Winds of Change

I'm a big complainer of the wind. Too cold, too fast, wrong direction, amd I making ANY forward progress . . . you get the point.

A really fast runner mentioned to me the other day that he sometimes chooses his route based on the wind direction. I think he gets to a fork in the road and goes right or left based on the wind direction. That made me wonder how he makes his choice -- delayed gratification by starting off running into the wind for the "out" portion and reaping the benefits on the "back" section? Perhaps he likes to run into the wind on the way back since the combination of the second half fatigure and wind makes you "tougher". Whatever his choice, I can pretty much guarantee you that his reasoning does not revolve around what is "easier".

I don't have any running routes that offer directional options, so I guess you can say that I'm at the mercy of the wind. Today I ran with the wind on the out and against the wind on the back. I think I prefer it that way -- not because of the logic above but because I typically start sweating around half way and it's nice to have the wind in your face as you get hotter and hotter finishing the run. It's like sailing with the wind at your back -- it gets really hot because the wind is at a standstill relative to your motion.

I forgot the Garmin today, but my GPS-enabled phone has a runner-friendly application that takes measurements for me. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I assume it's at least as accurate as the Garmin since the GPS chip is better. I finally found out that my normal lunch route is 6.25 miles. The Garmin would never synchronize until I left downtown so I never knew how far it was, but the phone syncs up as soon as I step outside.

6.25 miles
46:10 minutes
7:23 pace

I ran the whole way without knowing the pace and I was pleasantly surprised that I was faster than the 7:45ish I was expecting.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to tie the title into this post -- those winds are bringing in 90 degree weather. I'm enjoying seeing my times drop right now as I get back into shape, but it won't be long before that is counteracted by the heat of the summer. Are you ready?