Winter is Coming

Cold is merciless.

Cold is merciless. It shows you where you are. What you are.

-  Wim Hof

Reflecting

I just watched Human Playground in bits and pieces.  It was a mixed bag between quite a few segments that I didn’t care about (pigeon racing) or recoiled from (“e-sports”) but also some terrific footage of a desert marathon (that I’m attempting in 2024), some exotic martial arts, big wave surfing, and mountaineering.  Overall worth it for what I use it for which is something to flip on when I’m brushing my teeth, etc.

Training

Great weekend runs; warm Saturday then chilly Sunday starting at around 34 degrees at 5 AM.

My 8-year old son Bashy joined me for Sunday’s workout of the day – rowing, sit-ups, and burpees before we did some pegboard and deadhang (which he was quite pleased to beat me on).  Deadhanging from a pull-up bar is a fun family competition since it is such an equalizer across all ages. 

This morning’s whiteboard:

6 Rounds not for time

• 12 Weighted Step Up as heavy as possible

• 200 feet Suitcase Carry as heavy as possible

• 1:00 Hollow Hold

Then working out with my personal trainer after that. 

Fueling

Gatorade is ridiculously over sugared for somewhere between 99% and 100% of athletes. It is preposterous for people who do a low volume of low intensity work.  Instead, substitute LMNT, which offers flavor as well as the potassium, magnesium, and sodium that you sweat out in high volume high intensity training without sugar or artificial ingredients. 

Supplementing

Anyone have experience using Revive supplements?  I recently got this product recommendation, but have not looked into it yet.  Please comment if you have a view on this or other supplement brands. 

Recovering

It is perhaps too on the nose that I have a supplement marketed for PMS relief, but virtually no one gets enough magnesium, so in addition to the LMNT mentioned above, I’m sticking with an additional dose of this magnesium supplement each night to help me recover.  It used to be possible to get it in your diet, but modern monocrop farming has leached the natural magnesium from our food. 

Planning

Is it ever too cold to run? 

No.

At CrossFit this morning, a new friend asked me if our ultra/trail club runs through the winter.  Answer: hell yes. 

Some of our group get by with screwing screws into their regular shoes or attaching microspikes, but they seem to have to constantly mess with them; just buy the shoes with integrated spikes.  I love my Salomon Spikecross 5 Gore-tex trail running shoes. To not get murdered by the long-suffering wife: never wear them indoors.  Like, not even a step.  In snow, wear gaiters with them.  I have both the Salomon High Trail Gaiters for regular winter running and the Black Diamond Apex Gaiters for deep snow.  They’re also great for avoiding snagging expensive technical pants. 

In terms of clothes, I trust Arc’teryx for all of my cold weather gear.  I have four warmth levels – thin, medium, heavy, and summit.  Which to wear?  Enough to avoid hypothermia and frostbite… but just barely.  Don’t put on enough to get cozy when you start or you’ll overheat in a few miles.  Shorts and t shirt in the 40s, base layers in the 30s, permeable layering in the 20s and only shells to block wind in the teens.  Below 10 I like keeping my skin including face pretty covered.  Below 0, I’m in my full mountaineering kit with my belay jacket (big puffer) in the truck to throw on once I get back. 

High quality, durable and light weight winter gear is expensive and Arc’teryx is particularly expensive.  So I tried in vain to find the “right” jacket/gloves, etc. only to ultimately buy them all.  There is no right solution, even to a given day.  One day of alpine touring and mixed ice climbing involves at a minimum four pairs of gloves and three layers.  Gloves get soaked, especially on waterfalls, and heat spikes when you’re going up then plummets when you stop to belay.  So you’ll be changing back and forth all day, requiring a good backcountry pack and some forethought in terms of how you pack it.  Especially if it is 20 below and you’re on vertical ice, when you take off one pair of gloves, you want the others readily available to slip right on. 

Is it worth it?

Yes.

Closing

Grateful to everyone who reads, subscribes, comments, and recommends.