Month: February 2013

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Race Preview: Chilly Half-Marathon

It’s the Chilly Half-Marathon this week!  Between depressive funks, snow and slush challenges and simply not always having every kilometer done that I should have, I was beginning to dread race day, but now, the more I learn about the race, the more I’m fired up for it (free beer)!

Here’s a video review of last year’s race (free beer!) courtesy of Get Out There Magazine:

Here’s all the reasons I’m excited::

  • Free Beer!
  • Weather looks good.

    • Free Coffee*
    • Free Beer!
    • Course is pretty flat:

    Race Route is approximate… it was the best I could do with Google Earth

      • Free Chilli
      • On my last tempo run, my hear rate stayed at 78% of max or below, so I think I can make the finish line in less than two hours.
      • Free Beer!
      • It starts at 10:05 AM perfectly reasonable to get the whole family out, and because we have friends in the area, they won’t have to wait outside the whole time.
      • Fitness Cheerleader is running this race too!
      For this week’s training (still in Taper mode), I did 5 km on the treadmill Monday, a Trifecta Tuesday involving a 1.4km swim (with kick drills, fist swimming and water jogging), Rowga (which really stretched out all the muscles I wanted streched out!).  I got my 1.5 mile tempo run with warm-up and cool-down giving me about 11 km total run for the week.

      Hopefully the rest of the week and weekend will be restful… on Sunday I hope to run like there is no tomorrow.  And from a training perspective, there won’t be!










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                  Half Marathon Training Weekly Recap: And So This is Taper

                  I’ve read and heard from many triathletes and runners about how they go crazy during taper; the sudden drop in activity and being forced to do so much less leaves them figuratively twiddling their thumbs in anticipation of the race.  I figured this wouldn’t be a problem for me; there’s lots I’ve been meaning to get to, and taking the time I would have put into a workout to devote to those other tasks would be great.  It didn’t work out that way unfortunately;  I think some of those athletes were talking about a much greater volume of training being done for a longer period, and the truth is, I found myself in a funk that bordered on depression toward the end of the week before last.

                  Chart showing all activity for 2013: Doesn’t look like much of a taper….





                  Chart showing Running Activity only.  Weekly results may be skewed based on whether the long run took place on a Saturday or Sunday.





                  I had very little energy or motivation to do anything; train, blog, work, play with the kids everything felt “too hard, why bother”.  I had a few above-average sleeps, by our family’s yardstick (that still means getting up 2-3 times a night) and I still felt tired and listless most of the day.  I can at least claim that I still got a few treadmill runs in, but they weren’t spectacular and they were less than *prescribed*.

                  • Sunday: 7km run (instead of 8km)
                  • Tuesday: 8km on the treadmill.   I played around with video recording my stride as best as I could with this run, and I even switched shoes.  That broke up the boredom and fatigue a little.
                  • Thursday: 5km on the treadmill (instead of 5.6km).
                  • Friday: I started to feel a little more like myself on Thursday night, so I was willing to put in a little more effort… just not necessarily on the treadmill as much.  I completed a spinning class, and turned into a brick by doing my 2 mile tempo work on the treadmill right after.  No extra warm-up or cool-down mileage though.
                  • Sunday: Nearly 8km of cross-country skiing.  Pulling the kids in the Chariot as usual, conditions gave us some alternately sticky and slippery snow, but at least it was fresh and mild.  A really pleasant day to mark the end of my funk.


                  Overall this week, I’m pleased with the fact that I got all my runs in – which is to say I ran as many times as I was supposed to, even if I didn’t to them to the prescribed length (or prescribed procedure).  Let’s not even mention cross-training; there might have been a few extra planks here or there.

                  Next week it’s even less volume, which means I can focus on preparing logistical details for the race…

                  Have you ever suffered from Taper Blues?
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                  Half-Marathon Training Weekly Recap: Bite My Shiny Metal Treadmill

                  • Monday: I had my 19.2 km run planned for Tuesday, and I wanted my legs as fresh as possible, yet I didn’t want to take a rest day (yet).  The answer: all upper body strength work.  I had a packed day at the office so I managed 30 minutes of chest and back exercises like dumbbell presses, bent-over rows, pull-ups, incline/decline bench press and the like.


                  • Tuesday: 19.4 km… read all about it here.


                  • Wednesday: The best option for me that day was to push a workout into the evening.  After my struggles with winter conditions the day before, I opted to head to the gym and grab a treadmill.  I took my iPad along and used Netflix to see what an episode of the new seasons of Futurama would be like.  I loved this show in its first run (have all those seasons on DVD), yet when it was ‘reborn’ I watched a couple of episodes and felt like they had somehow lost the magic.  It was like the balance of Crude vs. Clever was tipping in favour of the former.  Yet on Wednesday night, it was like old times.  As Bender would say: “I’m back, Baby!”.  The really funny part, was the fact that what I was watching got shared to Facebook, and my wife commented: “I thought you were at the Gym?”  iPad on the treadmill… watching SciFi cartoons…Biggest. Run-Nerd. EVAR.



                  • Thursday: I was behind on workouts overall, so I fit in 3.2 km on the treadmill (with more Netflix) before a PB Freakin Fit class.  The WOD: 4 Rounds for Time of
                    1. 20 Push-ups
                    2. 20 Stationary Lunges (10/side) with 10 lb dumbbells
                    3. 20 ‘Plié’ jumps (wide stance, toes out squat like a ballet plié – into a jump)
                    4. 20 Shoulder presses with 10 lb dumbbells
                  There might have been a part two to that WOD (workout of the day) but I had to bail for a meeting.  I also did a 55 second plank and two 30 second side planks.

                  • Friday: Tempo run on the treadmill (4 miles at 5:30/km).  That’s my longest tempo run, and it was tough.  It was also my third day in a row on the treadmill, and I still don’t like that thing.  I think the problem I have is that I want to get the run over with, so for a given distance, I’ll set an overly aggressive pace (unless it’s the prescribed training tempo), and end up struggling so hard, that I can’t enjoy whatever I’ve set myself up with for entertainment.  I should probably try slower paces and use the programs to create the variety needed to stay engaged with it.

                  • Sunday: The taper begins! My long run was a paltry 7.2 km (rather than the prescribed 8 km).  While the conditions were better than Tuesday, it was still very, very cold, and due to new snow, I had to stick to sidewalks.   I was pretty irritated to have my Yaktrax break on me (the buckle holding the strap on broke and vanished).  If I can find the time I’ll contact the manufacturer to see about warranty, but it’s a lot of money to spend on something that’s only been on handful of runs.
                  Any Futurama fans out there? Or Dreadmill Haters?

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                  One Tough Run

                  The weekend came and went without me having done my long run.  This week was supposed to peak at 19.2km, and if I couldn’t get it done on the weekend, what chance would I have during the week?

                  While the Nemo blizzard had covered everything in snow, the weather forecast showed that Monday would be well above freezing (again) with rain even, but no rain forecast for Tuesday as well as staying above zero.  Tuesdays have been good days to get out early (thus Trifecta Tuesdays), so I thought I’d get out the door around 6:00AM, run for two hours or so, shower, then head to work, and I thought the conditions would work with me.

                  First problem: the kids did one of their patented sleepless nights, staggering their wake-ups so that either me or my wife was up every hour and a half on average.  We haven’t been hit with anything too serious during cold and flu season (plenty of friends have been either laid up for more than a week or had to have hospital interventions), but our kids are not 100% nor comfortable it seems.

                  I got up at 5:30 and though I think I was pretty quiet, my wife let me know she hadn’t been able to get back to sleep after the umpteenth wake-up and Shark Boy got out of bed too.  The next thing I know, everybody is up and Plan A means leaving my wife with two sick and cranky kids for at least an hour before my mother arrives to lend her help.

                  So… I didn’t get out the door till almost 7:00.  I had equipped myself with my Salomon hydration pack, clipped a Saucony blinker onto its back as well as wearing a Petzl headlamp that  would be trying for the first time.  The extra lighting probably wasn’t necessary beyond the first 15 minutes… but hey, it was my first run in darkness.



                  I hadn’t gotten past more than a couple of houses when I started to slip – black ice on the sidewalk, in spite of the day before’s thaw.  I had packed my Yaktrax, but I wasn’t wearing them yet, so I went back to my front porch to sit down and put them on.   I ran from my street to the park entrance to get on my usual trail, and there I did not have to deal with ice…. rather slush, sometimes as high as my ankles.  I guess people had tramped down the snow somewhat, and the temperature must have been slightly warmer on the trail.

                  From that point onward I had to confront either slippery black ice, wet slush or climb over snowbanks that were frozen close to solid. It was also quite windy.  I think I had gotten about 4 km when I started to think about quitting. For about another 4 km I had a thought process that went like this: “This sucks. I should call it a day and head home. I don’t want to go back the way I came though. I’ll just head over to [the next way-point that would present a route home] and see if this gets any better.” I repeated that till I was 8 km in, and then formulated a plan.

                  I could take the way home after another two major intersections. The streets involved had their sidewalks done by the city as opposed to private citizen homeowners, and the use of salt had made them a little more navigable. When there was a traffic light, I took a right turn until I was probably less than 2 km from home.

                  I made a phone call home to make sure everything was OK there, then I headed back North so that I could make a 4 km loop that I had to repeat another 2 times to get 18 km total. It was boring running the same city streets over and over again, and I drew a lot of stares from people waiting for buses. On the plus side, I was able to use a gas station for a bathroom break when needed. The general rule was better than average sidewalk clearing, but there were some exceptions….

                  What happened to the sidewalk?

                  It was one of those runs where almost everything hurt at least a little, but my right glute was the loudest complainer. I think it and my right hip were starting to almost lock up by the time I was finished.





                  The good news was that this was going to be the longest run of the year, and I got it done. It’s an extra feather in my cap that it was so challenging… I doubt race day can throw anything at me anymore that I won’t be able to handle.

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                  Gear Corner: Swimming With Music Part 2

                  Last Tuesday, I found myself swimming to music.  I have very little idea what parts of my overall digital music collection are on my old iPod Nano, but as the music played, there were a couple of things I noticed while in the water:

                  • I found myself doing a better ‘twist’ in the water, the hip rotation gave me a little more power in my stroke.  At least, that’s how it felt.
                  • ‘Feeling’ the music occasionally put a little extra power into my pull, but even more on the follow-through of the stroke (just before my hand would exit the water).
                  • These actions did have a negative effect on my body positioning, as my upper body would seem to bend off the axis of the direction of travel; I was ‘worming’ a little in the water with the trunk of my body.


                  I pulled some stats of my pool swims from the Garmin Connect website

                  Time Distance (m) Average Pace Total Strokes Average Strokes per Length Average SWOLF
                  36:50 1500 2:22/100m 751 13 48
                  57:20 2250 2:09/100m 1115 12 45
                  26:52 1125 2:28/100m 612 14 51
                  32:52 1300 2:14/100m 652 13 46



                  The top row represents the ‘musical swim’.  It looks like it’s not as good as my previous swim based on average number of strokes per length or the ‘Swim Golf’/SWOLF score*.

                  *”Your SWOLF score is the time in seconds plus the strokes it takes you to complete one pool length. For example 30 seconds plus 25 strokes equals a SWOLF score of 55.”

                  The comparisons are imperfect at best, since some of those lengths were done with pull-buoys, hand-paddles, or both.   What I would really need is an apples to apples comparison – maybe do a 400m-500m set with and without music and make sure that the interval is separate and identifiable compared to my drill sets or other exercises.

                  What about the music itself? Is there any science behind this idea?  I Googled ‘Ideal Swim Cadence’ and most websites weren’t willing to stick their necks out with any numbers… except this one.

                  “The ideal swim cadence is very dependent upon your height and swim speed. Typically, at a pace of 1:50 per 100 yards, an athlete will take between 55 and 65 strokes per minute. At 1:20 pace, we are looking at about 65 to 80 strokes per minute. In each of these, taller athletes should fall at the lower end of these ranges.”

                  The stroke count is based on the number of times my left arm (where I wear my Garmin 910XT) goes around; we can assume my right arm does an equal number of strokes.  So I looked up the Tempo in BPM (beats per minute) on SongBPM.com.  I hope I either do a left or right on every beat, or simply the left (i.e. both arms go around the stroke cycle between beats).  So I put in columns for not only the tempo, but half the tempo.

                  Title Artist BPM (according to SongBPM.com) BPM/2
                  Anything ‘Cept the Truth Eagles of Death Metal 126 63
                  Hey Boy Hey Girl Chemical Brothers 127 64
                  I Want You Back Jackson 5 ?81-104? ?
                  Jackson Lucinda Williams 76 –
                  Still Remains Stone Temple Pilots 132 66
                  Alright Hear This Beastie Boys 102 51
                  New Years Day U2 134 67
                  Plush Stone Temple Pilots 72 –
                  Hypnotize System of a Down 77 –
                  North and South of the River U2 103 52
                  Stand By Me Ben E. King ?116-123? ?


                  I highlit the songs that ‘felt’ the best as I was swimming.  The 1:50 per 100 yards pace comes out to 2:00 per 100 meters, so I’m a little slower than that, but I think you can link that cadence to about 63-77 strokes per minute.








                  Obviously the whole notion is a little ‘out there’ and at the least bears further experimentation before drawing conclusions, but I still thought it was interesting.  I can’t wait till I can find time for a longer pool workout (or two) to play with it a little.

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                  Half-Marathon Training Recap: Cadence Workouts, Push-Pulls, Kyle’s Krusade, etc.

                  • Sunday: I had a 16km run to get done, and I was looking for new ways to stay entertained.  Audiobooks have been suggested often, and I downloaded an app so that I could digitally lend them from the library, but I haven’t gotten it to work yet, and the whole concept doesn’t really inspire me.  I did, however, find that my Slacker Radio app has a series of stations called ‘Fitness’ which are all good workout songs, sub-divided by musical genre.  The one I ended up using was ‘BPM Workout’ – a station with all songs having a tempo between 150 and 190 beats per minute.  Ideal for keeping a good cadence! Coincidentally, the next day, I found an article in the paper explaining how the right tempo music aids runners in keeping a good cadence and how an app maker is seeking to capitalize on this concept.  It’s an interesting read (as all Alex Hutchinson articles are).
                  • Monday: I ran 5km for Kyle’s Krusade.  You can read about it (and how I got a new PR) here.  Please consider joining or simply donating.
                  • Tuesday: I was back on the Trifecta Tuesday bandwagon, and started it with a swim.  I was inspired by the idea of tempo music-driven workouts, yes even swimming.  Stay tuned for Part 2 of that series, where I do a little analysis.  I rounded out my Trifecta with Yoga and a Plank for 1 minute 48 seconds as part of Erica D. House’s Killer Core Plank Challenge.
                  • Thursday: Having taken a rest day on Wednesday, I didn’t know whether to cross-train on Thursday or run.  I hadn’t packed winter gear, and given how I hate treadmill running, I figured I would do both.  I broke up what was supposed to be 8km in two halves.  After 4km I did a 2 minute plank as well as the following strength workout.

                    • I used this machine to do an exercise dubbed ‘waterskiing’ by Katy from Fit In Heels with a little extra.  I configured the rope to have a lower angle than the one shown in the picture





                    • 30 Pushups,
                    • Back on the rope machine – pulling down as if climbing the rope: 1 minute.
                    • 20 pushups with a twist kick again from Fit in Heels.
                    • 12 assisted pull-ups on the machine.  I did these pyramid style; starting with 60 lbs of assistance till failure, then 75 lbs of assistance, then 90 lbs.
                      • from blogilates.com
                    • 16 ‘Scorpion’ Push-ups.
                    • 20 Bent-over Rows (35 lbs)
                    • 20 Incline Dumbbell Press (35lbs)


                  Then back on the treadmill for what was supposed to be another 4km, but due to an accidental button press (and a little fatigue and motivation failure) I stopped after 2.6km


                  Sunday: We went out of town for the weekend.  The plan was to cross-country ski which we did, but getting a late start and with the Lightning Kid unexpectedly and inexplicably objecting loudly for most of the trail.  An hour’s worth only gave us 5km and I wish these apps could appreciate that I’m pulling nearly 80lbs of extra weight along when they calculate calories and such…


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                  Gear Corner: Swimming With Music Part 1

                  Some facts:

                  1. I enjoy swimming.  Really I do, I like being in the water and the way it feels, sounds and looks.
                  2. I get bored easily.
                  3. Swim training (when it’s not open water) involves a lot of back and forth laps in the pool.  That can get boring, even for people like me.
                  4. I’m a tech-geek, and I probably wouldn’t get up to half the exercise and training that I do without toys to play with.
                  With that in mind, it’s easy to see why I’d invest in devices like those from H2O Audio.  I started way back buying one of their earlier editions for the 2nd generation iPod.
                  Exhibit A: The Accused
                  My first problem was having the wrong generation iPod Nano… I had a Black 1st edition which I lost after putting it in a jacket pocket in the spring, then not using the jacket again for an entire season.  I bought a 2nd generation one and was off into the water.  The problem with this ‘Waterproof’ Case was that it relied on a rubber gasket to maintain the seal, and this gasket was not fastened to the case with any kind of adhesive; it was up to the user to make sure there would be a seal every time you put the iPod into the case.  You can guess what happened…

                  Exhibit B: The Victim
                  Now normally, when burned by a poor quality product, I simply turn my back and walk away, but I guess my gear-head self wouldn’t give up on the concept when I saw later generations of the products.

                  I got what is now branded as the Amphibx Armband.  What I liked about this piece was that different size devices could be fit into it; they kept in simple and it was easy and flexible to be able to connect the speaker/headphone jack.
                  Once the original iPod Nano had been recovered (it’s probably gone through at least another two cycles of long-term loss and recovery), it had been eclipsed by other devices as a prime music device.  So it was a great candidate to be potentially sacrificed to the Water Gods in another experiment.  No issues, the armband hasn’t leaked yet.

                  The problems weren’t over yet though.  I still had the first generation earphones.  These things looked like the speakers from a telephone, only somewhat miniaturized.   They were hard to fit into my ears, and got uncomfortable after a while, but even worse, they’d let plenty water get between them and my ear canal.
                  My hands are pretty average size, so you get an idea of how big the speaker is…

                  So I would typically start playing music at a given volume, then start swimming.  As water got in my ear, the volume would seem to go down to the point where I couldn’t really hear the music (I would have thought I’d hear the music better due to water being a denser medium than air, but I’m telling you what I experienced).  I’d turn up the volume to compensate, but the second the water cleared (if I took my head out of the water for sighting, or to take a break or anything), the music would be deafening.  



                  Someone told me there was a newer better model out so finally this year, I got a pair from Amazon*.  The Surge Sportwraps seem to be marketed for Boardsports more than swimming (probably because the band around the back doesn’t play well with a swim cap), but I like that they hug the head; it’s what I look for in running earphones too.

                  On my last Trifecta Tuesday, I went for a swim.  I was a little tired from a 16km run plus the Kyle’s Krusade Virtual Race 5k (PR!), so I decided I simply wanted to crank out 1.5km in the pool without drill sets or anything complicated.  The perfect setting for the new kit.

                  Though I ended up stopping a few times in the first few hundred meters to adjust the phones in my ears and make the Sportwrap play nice with my goggles and swim cap, I can tell you the audio experience was better than ever before and the volume stayed at a fairly even level so I was able to enjoy music throughout the swim.  I’ll revisit what effects that had on my swim experience in Part 2 of this series.

                  *H2O Audio has been re-branded to X-1 Audio with some new (yet again) product lines.  There still seems to be a Canadian Retailer using the H2O Audio Brand though.
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                  Race Recap: Kyle’s Krusade 5k Virtual Race

                  While I had initially planned on using the Yeti Snowshoe Race as my 5k for the Kyle’s Krusade Virtual Race (to Lisa of RunWiki.org’s great excitement), its cancellation left me looking for another 5k I could use.  The Training Plan said that Monday was to be a 5.6km run, so that would have to do.

                  The days had been cold of late, but my 16km run on Sunday had gone well so I decided to Race with a Capital ‘R’… even though there was no-one else there.  If young Kyle had to fight cancer, could I offer any less than an all-out effort?  I hoped for a sub 25 minute finish, but I had a few factors against me: I had left both my Garmin and my water bottle belt at home.  I’d be relying on my Endomondo app to track my pace and distance.  Figuring that I’d be working hard, I skipped a thermal layer, and didn’t bother with face protection.  I can’t say that it was a mistake overall, but it did make the start a little uncomfortable.



                  As I ticked off the kilometres, I stayed under 5 minutes per kilometre, which was what I needed to stay under 25 minutes overall.  My lungs were burning a little, and some of the sharp turns were not ideal for ‘racing’.  You can see the fatigue (and incline) kick in on the 4th kilometre, and for a few minutes I thought I’d have to overshoot my starting point due to some kind of miscalculation, but I heard the 5 km indicator right as I got to the intersection.  24:39, a personal best.

                  Me with my Race Bib after it’s finished


                  I want to thank Lisa for devoting her time and effort to such a worthy cause.  Not everyone wants to do this kind of organization and logistics for the enjoyment of others.  Kyle’s Krusade Virtual Races can be done all through February and you can do 5k, 10k or even a half-marathon.  Or you call simply donate… just follow the links!

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                  Race Recap: Kyle’s Krusade 5k Virtual Race

                  While I had initially planned on using the Yeti Snowshoe Race as my 5k for the Kyle’s Krusade Virtual Race (to Lisa of RunWiki.org’s great excitement), its cancellation left me looking for another 5k I could use.  The Training Plan said that Monday was to be a 5.6km run, so that would have to do.

                  The days had been cold of late, but my 16km run on Sunday had gone well so I decided to Race with a Capital ‘R’… even though there was no-one else there.  If young Kyle had to fight cancer, could I offer any less than an all-out effort?  I hoped for a sub 25 minute finish, but I had a few factors against me: I had left both my Garmin and my water bottle belt at home.  I’d be relying on my Endomondo app to track my pace and distance.  Figuring that I’d be working hard, I skipped a thermal layer, and didn’t bother with face protection.  I can’t say that it was a mistake overall, but it did make the start a little uncomfortable.



                  As I ticked off the kilometres, I stayed under 5 minutes per kilometre, which was what I needed to stay under 25 minutes overall.  My lungs were burning a little, and some of the sharp turns were not ideal for ‘racing’.  You can see the fatigue (and incline) kick in on the 4th kilometre, and for a few minutes I thought I’d have to overshoot my starting point due to some kind of miscalculation, but I heard the 5 km indicator right as I got to the intersection.  24:39, a personal best.

                  Me with my Race Bib after it’s finished


                  I want to thank Lisa for devoting her time and effort to such a worthy cause.  Not everyone wants to do this kind of organization and logistics for the enjoyment of others.  Kyle’s Krusade Virtual Races can be done all through February and you can do 5k, 10k or even a half-marathon.  Or you call simply donate… just follow the links!

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                  Gear Corner: Hoorag Review

                  Disclaimer: I was provided a free sample by Hoorag in exchange for a review.  I was not asked to write a positive review and these experiences and opinions are my own.

                  Being outside especially while exercising can carry a lot of demands for clothing and accessories.  You need to keep sweat out of your face and eyes.  You need to tie back your hair.  You need to protect your face and/or neck from the wind, or from the sun.  Hoorags claim to be the better bandana.

                  My first run in a Hoorag was an easy run with a couple of hill repeats in light drizzle, just above freezing temperature with 20 km/h winds.  I wanted head insulation, but didn’t feel like I’d need my winter hat or any other face protection, so I wore the Hoorag ‘Bandana’ style.

                  Pic not taken on run day.

                  It felt comfortable and did a good job of keeping me warm enough – I never felt the cold.  It’s breathable so I didn’t overheat either, and it stayed on without me having to fiddle with it.  I think it even looked OK on the day… this pic notwithstanding.

                  When temperatures dropped below freezing, I considered wearing it ‘Balaclava’ style (think ninja-mask) but I couldn’t get it to work… I ended up with extra material around the eyes mostly.  That’s OK, because I’ve always wanted to look like Strider-Hiryu…

                  …minus the threatening sword…

                  The ‘Face Mask’ style is my favourite way to wear the Hoorag.  I grew up using ‘Tube Sarves’ to protect my face (especially mouth and nose) from the cold and wind.  The problem I always had was that the elastic was on only one end of the tube… wear the elastic at the top of the scarf and it cuts into your face – uncomfortable.  Wear it at the bottom (the better choice) and the top of the scarf is somewhat loose and not protecting your face as well as you’d like.

                  Hoorag doesn’t have this problem – it’s stretchy top to bottom but both ends have a gentle elastic.  I could get it to hug my face however I wanted; I got a peak right up to the bridge of my nose, but it sloped down past my cheekbones far enough that it wouldn’t interfere with my earphones if I wanted.

                  If I did any really heavy breathing (like sprints or hills), I found it interfered with my breathing and I would get gassed.  The good news is I was usually warm by that point, and I could easily pull it down to my neck (known as the ‘Neck Gaiter’ style).  On one occasion the moisture trapped in it from such breathing got flash-frozen when I pulled the mask away from my face; other than that, I like wearing it this way and do so for most of my winter runs.

                  I did try wearing a balaclava once for contrast; the full face mask is the protection of choice for the coldest of cold weather.  Wearing a balaclava means extra headaches putting on headphones, and I found it interfered with my field of vision too, so I prefer the Hoorag, though if it gets cold enough, I wear both!

                  as well as a hat.

                  The Hoorag can be worn in ladies’ styles too. When I asked my wife to model it, she was a little overly concerned with how she’d look, and more pertinently: “When was the last time you washed that thing?”