The biggest problem I have with living in Calgary is the cold weather. Don't get me wrong, I love to snowboard, and I love the crisp, clean edge the air gets. But my training has always suffered in the winter. It's just too easy to have an excuse. My excuses lately have mostly been "It's too cold, I don't have the right gear" and "It's dark out already"
But, I did manage to get out yesterday-- a nice, sunny day. But I'm finding the air so dry, it's aggravating my asthma, so I have to be even more careful about taking my medication.
As for gear, I think I'll be taking water more often, even on short runs. This month's Runners' World featured an article about running in cold weather, and suggested breathing through the nose is more important so you don't dry out as quickly. My nose is constantly plugged, so a bandana over the mouth might be the way to go...
I'm also thinking about getting another pair of tights that are more suited to cold weather. I'm looking at CW-X Insulator Stabilyx (partly, I admit, because they have cool print ads), or I might just go for the Running Room brand gear.
No matter what it takes, I have to keep running, even if it's only once a week. I'm not a huge fan of track running, though I could do that at the Shawnessy Y if it came down to it... but there's no way I'll be running on a treadmill-- they always seem to jump and skip and catch when I run on any treadmill.
I've taken the bike in for a last tuneup for the winter, before it goes into storage, but I'm thinking it would be great to have a spin trainer like one of these, or this one. I just don't know if I could convince my lovely wife to let me keep the bike in the spare bedroom, or spend the money on the trainer.
