#NaNoWriBloMo (Nov 8) How to know what to wear on a winter run?

This Tuesday was a long day, with the launch of a blog for my day job. By the end of the day, my mind and body were spent. But I knew that once I got outside for a run, I'd feel that much better. So that's just what I did. 

As runners, we quickly become watchers of weather - The Weather Network is usually bookmarked on our desktops, because it's the first thing we check before deciding what to wear, especially on a winter run.

I've learned over the years to discount the temperature reading and go straight to the windchill - because even if it's -1 without the wind, once that -10 windchill hits you, you'll wish you had a few extra layers on. But on this particular run, TWN read 1 degree without a windchill, so I decided to wear a long-sleeved running shirt, tank top and crop pants, along with mitts and a headband.

At first, I felt fine. But soon enough, my hands started aching from the cold, and I could feel it seeping through the thin wicking material of my sweater. Thankfully, I only had a few kilometres left to go, and I pushed my pace up to a tempo so I could make it home sooner while at the same time warming up a little more due to the faster pace.

It was obvious though that by the time I got home, I'd made a mistake in my clothing choices. I rushed inside and bundled up into warm clothes and sat by the fire until my core temperature increased.

It's no secret that clothing choice is one of the most important decisions of any run, particularly in the winter. Wear too little, and you risk suffering from hypothermia if your core temperature drops too far. Wear too much (as I've also done), and you'll not only overheat, but eventually get too cold from the humidity in your clothes due to sweating.

So how to know just what to wear on a run on any particular day? Even though as I note above, I've made the occasional clothing mistake, here are a few tips I've learned over the years:

1. Layer, layer, layer: this one's not new. If you haven't heard about layering, then it's possible you've been running under a rock. Layering allows you to moderate your temperature along a run, depending on the elements (as anyone who's run in Halifax knows, a sunny warm day can quickly turn to rain and back), and your own body temperature changes.

2. Keep a running diary: when I first started winter running, I was more diligent about this, because I was learning what worked for me. After all, everyone's internal thermometer is different. I tend to be a warm runner, warming up a lot faster than my running buddies but also needing a layer less than them on most occasions. But I also cool off really fast too, especially after we're done. By keeping a running diary, I not only tracked my distance and pace, but also what clothes I wore on a particular day and what temperature it was - whether I needed to add or take off a layer depending on whether I felt cold or hot.

3. Dress for ambient temperature + 10 degrees C: I have found that once I start running, I'm able to wear clothes for 10 degrees warmer than the current temperature. So if it's 1 degrees C, then I dress for what I would be wearing at around 11 degrees - hence capris and a light long-sleeved running shirt on my run on Tuesday. Or if it's 11 degrees, then I'll probably wear a t-shirt or tank top and shorts, because that's what I would wear if I was walking around at 21 degrees. But again, each runner's internal thermometer is different, so for you it might be ambient temperature +7 degrees, etc.

4. Bring something warm for after the run: our bodies tend to cool down quickly after a winter run. So it's important to have a warm and dry ski jacket, hat and mitts to slip into after the run's over.

But if you're not sure, it's always better to wear a little more and strip off a layer if you do get too warm.  Dressing for the weather is something you'll only learn by going out there and running. And if you're really not sure, consider staying close to your home base and doing loops, in case you discover partway through your run that you've underdressed for the occasion. 

So what tips do you have for winter run clothing? 

Stay warm and safe out there, running friends!

~ HRG

#NaNoBloPoMo #4 (Nov 7): Dear Chip, I'm healthy, active...And my thighs rub together.

You know those kids who always got picked last to be on a team in schoolyard games? Well - that was me, in elementary school. The time would come to pick players on a team and the numbers would dwindle down till it was just me - the shortest girl in the class - and most often, the shortest boy next to me. Don't ask me where this came from but there seemed to be this stigma surrounding height that meant that the shorter you were, the lower down on the team picking totem pole you wound up.

So I never tried out for the track and field teams, and never considered myself an athlete, despite my involvement in a wide range of recreational sports lessons -  including swimming, gymnastics, soccer, karate or skating lessons from as early as I remember. In fact there came a point where my parents told me I had to choose - because although I wanted to do it all, I couldn't.

Then, on to high school, where I tried out for the volleyball team, once. I wasn't picked - and still I believed it was because I was too short to reach the net and block (little did I know that some volleyball players are picked precisely because they are short and powerful). But the next year, I joined the dance troupe and signed up for dance as a credit. For some reason, it didn't matter that I was short - I had a natural connection to music and rhythm, and movement came naturally to me.

Being small also meant that I could be tossed around and lifted by some of the boys in the group, so I was chosen for some of the lead roles in our rendition of Cats, jumping backwards into the arms of a boy I liked from the back of a ladder. As a gymnast, I was small, strong and powerful - although terribly afraid of heights and not exactly talented.

But in dance class and in the recreational competitive gymnastics club I joined, no matter how short I was, I was never small enough. For a couple of months, we had a dancer from the National Ballet come to class and teach us. There I was at the bar, sucking in my butt and stomach as far as I could, but it never failed - each day, the teacher yelled at me - "Christine, rentre ton derrière!"

It didn't help that the required uniform for dancers and gymnasts was skin-tight leotards, so that each roll and bump showed through. I remember being mortified to have to dance in a silver unitard in front of the whole high school, feeling like every imperfection was on display.

Soon, I was minimizing the food I was taking in, not exactly counting calories but developing a distaste for food. And the amount of time I spent working out increased, drastically, trying to burn off the calories and look fit. Dance each day for an hour, then aerobics at lunch, then either gymnastics for another couple of hours and/or track running/weights and swimming. I wouldn't say I was anorexic. But the possibility was there, at the back of my mind. It became an obsession (I once estimated that I was probably working out more than 20 hours a week, and I was by no means a professional athlete).

And still, I was never small enough.

In university, I joined the competitive dance team. I loved going to practice each week, learning new routines. I loved performing and competing.

As a team, everyone got along well - we spent so many hours together and traveled to Florida for an international competition. But secretly, we were all watching each other, measuring ourselves against the others. I'll never forget the day I overheard one of the girls from the group - who also happened to be an Ottawa Roughrider cheerleader - commenting on the curve of my back and how it created horizontal folds in my back. I weighed 113 pounds - those lines were always going to be there, no matter what I weighed, but seeing the cheerleader's scrutiny hurt, and only served to fuel my insecurities.

It's no secret that dancers and gymnasts have unhealthy relationships to food and their body image - let alone most women I know. Looking back, I see that I was just one more young girl who fell prey to these effects.

I'd like to say that I've healed. With time, I've come to like my curves, although I still never quite feel small enough. I'm at a healthy weight now, but I'd still like to lose 10 pounds. I know what my ideal weight is, but I don't know if I'll ever be there. I watch "How to Look Good Naked," and I wonder if my brain is adding on invisible pounds that no one else can see.

It's obvious that negative body image doggs me still, even though in my mind I know that I'm in pretty good shape and not overweight. And I now know that my height has nothing to do with whether I can be an athlete or run fast.

So when I hear of Chip Wilson saying that some women can't wear his pants because their thighs rub together, I get angry. I'll admit it - I've bought products from Lulu Lemon. I've paid exorbitant amounts for running tights and yoga tops, because they are durable and good quality, because it was a Canadian company and because I'll be honest - I was inspired by the company's ethos of healthy and active living. I've even reviewed some of their products here.

But a couple of years ago, an article by Slate magazine about the right-leaning messages behind the "Who is John Galt?" bags caught my attention. I didn't boycott the company altogether, but I wondered whether there was a disconnect between the company's manifesto and its owner's personal ethos.

And then this week, this report that Chip Wilson claims that some women should not wear his yoga pants because their thighs rub got my attention. Actually, it got me angry.

Really, Chip? How does this contribute to helping women develop a positive body image through active living? Not only does this do exactly the opposite, but it perpetuates the unhealthy behaviours I and so many women have struggled with all our lives.

And you know what, Chip? I'm five feet and 120 pounds, and active - working out 1-2 or even 3 hours a day about five times a week. I think I'm a size four or six in your store. My thighs touch. Even at my lightest, most active (back in my crazy high school workout days), my thighs touched.

Maybe that makes me ineligible to wear your pants, but maybe...It makes your brand ineligible to be worn by me.

Unfortunately, I now find myself with several articles of Lulu clothing that are part of my workout regime - not because of the brand but because I just can't affort to throw them out and buy new ones. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that, but I'm seriously thinking that I will not be returning to a store that will only serve to foster my insecurities further.

In the end, that probably means I'll end up saving quite a bit of money buying clothes that aren't as ridiculously priced. So thanks for that, Chip. Really.

How do you feel about all of this, readers? I want to know!

~ HRG

#NaNoBloPoMo #3 (Nov 6) Oh the things you'll see!

One of the things that I love about running is all of the things you'll see when you're out and about. It's a great way to people watch (and I'm sure people enjoy watching me struggle along some of my runs). At the same time, you're bound to see things on your runs that you won't see if you're holed up at home in front of the TV.

Sure, sometimes you get so into a run that you don't realize what's around you - and I've been startled quite a few times by the sound of a horn blaring or a dog barking at me, only then noticing that I hadn't been paying to my surroundings.

But if you do take the time to look around, you may see the most amazing things. Sometimes, I even find that bringing my camera with me forces me to slow down and actually look at what's around me.

In the last few weeks since starting to run again, here are a few things that I've seen on my runs:

- a red-tailed hawk perched on the top of a yellowing aspen
- mallards and seagulls floating in the lake
- Halloween decorations of varying degrees of scariness
- spectacular sunsets reflecting in clouds
- a skin of ice forming on the lake
- fall trees mirrored in glassy waters
- a rainbow of trees - all the same species, but five different shades, all within feet of each other
- skeletons made out of plastic milk jugs
- the sun setting like a pumpkin over McKenzie Towne
- dogs running with their owners
- kids climbing trees
- a toddler with no socks and no pants crossing the road with no parent in sight (I circled the block to make sure he was ok and his mom ended up outside)
- other runners enjoying their runs
- drivers talking on their cell-phones and not watching where they were going
- dogs barking to each other from across their yards
- Canada geese heading south in a V
- and so much more!

See something neat on your run? Send me a message on Twitter and tag it with #seenonmyrun. I'll share it here!

~ HRG

#NaNoBloPoMo Post #2 (Nov 5) - I've been blogging...Just not here!

Aah! Bad #NaNoBloPoMoer! No sooner have I signed on to this challenge, fully determined to stay on track (although I signed on three days late), than I am once again behind!

As it happens, I have been blogging - just not here! This Tuesday I launched www.landlines.ca - the new blog of my employer, the Nature Conservancy of Canada. It's a project that's been months in the making, and certainly my experiences on this blog have helped inspire me for this new project. But it meant that at the end of Tuesday, my brain was fried and the last thing I needed was more blogging!

That said, the launch went super well and I'm excited to see it continue. At first, I thought as it's a nature and conservation blog, there might not be a lot of cross-over with content on this blog, except...

Many of the natural areas we are able to run in are there because of the people who believed in the importance of conserving them. In fact, conservation areas/nature reserves/parks allow us to escape from the hustle and bustle of our daily lives and clear our minds - whether running, walking or sitting on a blanket soaking in the sun.

I reacently interviewed a trail runner from Calgary for an upcoming piece in OptiMYz magazine about winter running in Calgary. He and his trail runners go out about twice a week to nature trails near Calgary. He talked to me about how he enjoys being on a trail in the winter after a fresh snowfall, where he's the first one making tracks on the snow. How peaceful it is. None of those areas would be available for him to make tracks in if there weren't groups and individuals out there who believe that we should protect some of our natural areas - both for the species that live in them as well as for the health and well-being of humans.

Conservation provides ample opportunities for recreation and healthy living, and allows us spectacular areas to run in.

So there you have it - a quick #NaNoBloPoMo post, and a conservation+running mashup (one day when I have the time I might tease out those connections even more!).

One down, two more to go to get back on track!

Happy writing, NaNoBloPoMoers!

~HRG

It's NaNoBloPoMo!

I jst discovered this morning that it's NaNoBloPoMo! If you're a writer, you may have heard of NaNoWriMo (National November Writing Month). But I'd never heard of NaNoBloPoMo until this morning (bad blogger, me!).

Anyways, since I've found that I like a challenge, and that writing every day forces me to write, be creative, and more to the point write fast, I've signed up - four days late! So today's going to be a day of playing catchup so I can get on schedule with the rest of the NaNoBloPoMoers.

Thankfully, since I've started running again, I now have something to write about again, too! And having to write every day in this space will hopefully help keep me on track with my winter race goal: the 2014 Calgary Hypo Half.

I'm feeling good about running again (minus a tight left Achilles' heel and right IT band, which I am realizing are just part and parcel of running - getting used to those tight muscles and aches and pain). But I'm back on schedule again. Actually, I'm a couple of weeks ahead of schedule, and feeling good.

So here's to a happy NaNoBloPoMo, fellow run bloggers! And happy start of winter training!

Stay safe and warm out there on those icy streets, fellow Calgary runners!

~ HRG

Winter wonderland: My first winter run in Calgary!

Yesterday, we were mowing the lawn...Today, what was a landscape of yellows, oranges and green is now white. My, how the weather has changed fast!

But since my insightful run from earlier this week, I seem to have found my taste for running again. I've managed a few more good runs, and I feel like I'm on track for a hypo half in February - at least for now. So today although we spent most of the afternoon huddled inside watching movies in bed, I was determined to lace up my sneakers and get out there for my first winter run. Because when you can run on a day like today, with wind driving snowflakes down your throat and icy sidewalks making each step tricky, then any run after that feels easy.

So I pulled out my winter running tights, sweater, hat and gloves, laced up my shoes and headed out for an 8k run. And you know what? I'd actually forgotten how much I like those winter runs, when the world is painted white and you've dressed just warm enough that the snowflakes dusting your cheeks feel oddly refreshing...And at the end of those runs, the feeling of accomplishment is just priceless!



I'm told that as Calgarians, we get the odd chinook that means we'll be running in 20 degree weather in the middle of winter! I'm looking forward to those days, but also to a new season of running in Calgary.

Enjoy that winter wonderland, running friends!

~ HRG

There will be runs where it all makes sense...

It's no secret from the less-than-frequent nature of my posts since arriving in Calgary that my running has been...less than frequent. Unlike when I moved to Halifax and I joined a running group immediately to get to know the city, with this move I've instead focused on getting involved a wide range of activities - anywhere from hiking in the province's many provincial parks with my husband, to cycling around our small town, not to mention getting back in touch with my dance background by taking up a few dance-related classes at GoodLife.

But in the last few weeks I'll admit I've started to feel some interest in getting back into my running routine. Perhaps it's hearing about everyone's fall race plans, perhaps it's just that I've finally had enough time away from running to make me miss it (because absence makes the heart grow fonder) or perhaps it's that as I look ahead to my plans for my 40th birthday (which includes running a marathon to mark this milestone) I realized that if I want to accomplish that goal, I need to start training now. Plus, the weather has just been so gorgeous - how could I not want to head outside and run around and enjoy the fall colours and autumn smells?

Whatever the case, over the last few weeks I've been building a few runs back into my schedule - 3k here, 5k there, 4k another time...They haven't been easy - in fact I'm constantly amazed at just how different running is from any other sport and how it requires you to keep at it if you want to succeed, no matter how many other sports or activities you engage in. But they've definitely gotten my brain thinking about running again, which it hadn't done in some time.

So on Saturday, I headed out for a 3k run. And it was decidedly not easy. My legs felt tired by the end of it, but rather than feel dismayed I took this as a sign that I need to get back at 'er and get those distances in. The following day, I found myself researching a winter half marathon in Calgary and a spring marathon, and calculating the time I would need to get myself back into fighting shape.

Tonight after work, although I had no plans to go for a run - I was actually changing out of my home office attire (flannel pants and a sweater) into clothes to go grocery shopping for dinne, when all of a sudden I was struck by an urge to pull out my running shorts and t-shirt instead, no matter how hungry I found myself.

So on went the running clothes and shoes, and I headed out the door for a 6k run, Garmin on wrist and iPod in hand. As with Saturday, I found my calves and shins cramping and my pace slow for most of the run. But something inside me knew that I could do it, if I tried - no matter the little demons in my head telling me that I'd been away from it for too long and couldn't do it, or the pain in my legs. For some reason - maybe it was the golden autumn sunshine beaming down on me - those voices seemed to get quieter and quieter as the run went on.

Before long, I was turning right at a corner instead of heading straight to the finish that would mark 6k, so that I could tack on an extra kilometre on my run. My legs felt less pained, and I managed to pick my tempo up just a smidgeon. All of a sudden, 8kms seemed doable, although I decided to play it safe and stick at 7.

Not only was I thrilled with the result, despite my slower than usual pace from a few months ago, I found this run incredibly insightful. It was one of the more meaningful runs I've had in some time, with the latter half of the run being full of lessons - some new, some that I'd just forgotten:

1. You only fail if you don't try: sure, I could have gone grocery shopping instead of running tonight. But the very fact that I opted to lace up my sneakers instead was a win in itself, no matter what the result.

2. Just because it hurts doesn't mean it's difficult: this is a lesson I've learned over the years through my yoga practice - the ability to separate physical sensation from mental effort. Sure, it hurt tonight, but I also knew that it probably hurt because I hadn't done it in a while. In fact when I did a mental check of my body, although my legs felt strained, they still had strength in them, and my breathing felt relaxed and easy. That mind-body awareness isn't always possible, but when you're able to separate the physical from the mental, it makes things a whole lot easier.

3. It gets easier with time: that means both on the run itself, and over the course of weeks and months of training. I have learned over the years that if you give a run enough time, your muscles loosen up and the pain starts to dissolve. It's just a matter of persevering until you hit that sweet spot in a run and things feel easier. Same with training: over time, any distance becomes more manageable. But you have to put the effort in to get there.

4. It's about the journey: some runs just aren't going to be your fastest. Sometimes, it's just about getting out there and getting the distance in, and forgetting that the virtual partner on your Garmin is beating you. If you're struggling with pace on a run, it'll feel that much more enjoyable if you can just ignore your partner's little whirring legs.

5. The power of more: a few years ago I read Marnie McBean's book by the same title, about how athletes are driven by the idea of "just a little more." If you tell yourself you're only going to run 3k, as I did on Saturday, then chances are that you'll only run 3k. But if you set your sights a little farther, for a little bit more, then chances are that you'll accomplish more. Tonight was a great example of the power of more.

6. It's about runs where it all makes sense: not every run's going to be easy. In fact there may be weeks or even months where you wonder why the heck you do it, and you want to quit. And sometimes, it's ok to step away from running for awhile and take a break to enjoy other pastimes. But every so often, you have a run like today - where you either learn a ton about yourself or you just feel like a gazelle with wings on (that wasn't me, although I've had those days) - and you finish the run with a blast of endorphins knowing that this is why you run. And it's those somewhat elusive runs that keep me coming back to running, time and again.

7. I run because I'm able to: it's something that so many runners say and that I try to remind myself often. The simple fact that we are healthy and able enough to get out there and run, no matter what our pace our distance, is a gift in itself that I often forget to cherish. But on runs like today, I remember how fortunate I am to be healthy, active and fit. And that fills me with gratitude.

That doesn't mean that I won't have days and times when I feel like stepping away from running for awhile. I'm sure it will happen again - I'm just not a consummate runner like some are, and I enjoy other activities far too much to give them up. I also enjoy having times when I'm not entirely consumed by running and all that is running-related. But I know that it will always have a place in my life, in some form or other, because I've been fortunate to have runs like today's, where I understand what it's all about.

Happy trails, running friends!

~ HRG