I’m a fan of David Goggins. I believe in his message of constantly pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. However, after 53 years of Canadian winters, you can call me soft but I hate the cold!
Through the months of December, January and February, I did not completely abandon running. I did drop my mileage significantly, though. There are a few reasons for this.
First, maybe we need a season off to recoup, despite optimal recovery techniques. Second, trail running is out for me once the snow flies and I just don’t seem to be able to put in much more than 10km per run on asphalt and concrete. Third, I nasal breathe (on inhalation) when I run and when the temperature drops below -10c, I find my nasal cavity seems to almost completely block up after five or so kilometres. Fourth, I play hockey in the winter months which cuts into my running time.
March Thaw Brings Perfect April Trail Conditions
Well, maybe not perfect. But, the ice and snow is mostly gone from the running trails near me and I can again leave the concrete jungle for the peace and quiet of nature. And, what an incredible difference it makes.
When I have to run in town on the roads and sidewalks, I feel like a character in “The Walking Dead”, constantly on the lookout for the next threat. On the sidewalk, you have the ‘dog walking zombies’ who mostly don’t have a clue what’s going on around them. On the roads, you have commuter traffic that is so entombed in their luxury SUV’s, distracted by all the gadgets and spa-like comforts, that seem to constantly be trying to run you down.
So, during those winter months, I find myself checking my watch, hoping to find that I’ve already put in 10k but, am disappointed when the distance covered is only half that. My body is willing beyond the 10k marker but my mind really isn’t.
But, once I’m back on the trails, away from the Mad Max scenes in town, the miles melt away. I once again find myself getting blissfully lost in thought while breathing in that oxygen rich fresh air. Suddenly, the runs start to measure 15, 17, 20km and beyond.
The First Big Long Run Of 2022
At the start of April, once I was back on the trails, I moved quickly with a 15km and 17km run. Then, eight days into the month, I leveled up with a 25 kilometre run at Island Lake Conservation Area in my town of Orangeville, Ontario. The main loop around the lake is maybe 8km but with added loops and turnbacks, I can quite easily amp up the distance.
I started at around 9:30am. I last ate at 7pm the night before. I was running on water and coffee. It was just the way I like it. The jumbled course I ran was strategic in that I passed by my vehicle on a few occasions. Even so, I stopped for water just twice.
My pace was mostly constant over the full run. I found I had to ‘go inside myself’ on occasion to check my running form and breathing. Only once, did I start to get a real feeling of hunger. However, moving forward, I am going to start bringing some food with me on runs over this distance.
The Fitbit V. Garmin Battle
As you can see from the images above, Fitbit and Garmin disagree on my running distance. I have had the Fitbit Charge 4 since Christmas 2020 and the Garmin Venu was my 2021 Christmas gift. I decided to go with both watches as together they simply provide more information. Plus, with the obvious distance discrepancy, I felt I needed to keep the Fitbit in order to properly compare my progress against the year before.
This difference in distance is pretty much a constant. On a 10km or less run, the difference isn’t so drastic at around 800 metres. But, a difference of 2.5km over 25 is quite a bit. On the roads, I’ve compared both to a measurement I’ve taken from a run tracker website and the third distance falls right in between the two.
I go by the Fitbit distance for a few reasons. The first, obviously, is the psychological advantage of more KM run. The second, again, is compared apples with apples.
The Garmin does have its benefits. Fitbit, from time to time, will stop mapping the run midway. You still get the proper distance but run is not mapped out. Garmin does not have this problem. Plus, I like the Garmin VO2 Max function better than the Fitbit Fitness Score.