I’ve made no secret that we’ve had a bit of cold here recently. We’ve been waking up to single-digit temperatures – today it was 8 F (-13 C) — and topping out in the low 20’s (about –5C).
Not long ago I took a stroll at lunch and noticed ice on the inside of my balaclava at the mouth hole. I felt pretty manly about the whole thing until I read Nat’s entry in which she said the inside of her jacket frosted up on a run; it’s a little colder in her neck of North America.
I’m not always cold. This morning I went to my car, wearing tennis shoes, boxers and a hoodie – just those items, no socks, underwear, or shirt – to start my (really sweet) mini-van so it could warm up while I showered.
At lunch I took a stroll in the 20-degree weather (a polo shirt and hoodie protected my upper body and a balaclava my big jug-head) and didn’t feel particularly cold.
As I walked, and realized it was in the teens or colder with the wind chill, I concluded it wasn’t the cold that was so troubling at the moment, but the ice and crap on the sidewalks.
Air isn’t a great conductor of temperature, and if the sun is out the cold outdoors is a lot easier to put up with.
Metal, on the other hand, is a very good conductor of temperature-related things. (Stick your hand in a 400-degree oven and it doesn’t feel too bad due to the conductive qualities of air. Grab that orange, metal, thing that’s in there and it’s a whole different story. Those of you cooking with gas will have to trust me on this.) And this brings me to my biggest weather-related complaint.
I have an art gallery/gym in my garage. I also have some sort of personality trait that encourages me to soldier on through uncomfortable situations to keep a string of activities alive but that is useless when it comes time to restart an activity I’ve fallen away from.
That is, if I’ve been riding my bike for weeks and weeks and the temperature drops to below freezing, I’ll likely suit up and head out on a ride in 18F temps (barring snow and ice on the road). And I’ll ride regularly until the roads get bad. However, if too much time passes, I may not hop on the bike unless the temps break 40 – regardless of road conditions.
How does this apply to the art gallery? Everything out there, aside from the art, is made of metal and it all conducts cold very well. Last year I worked out in zero-degree (-18C) temps to keep a string alive despite the fact my hands would ache. Over the holidays, this year, I missed enough art-gallery time that when I did have time I was sometimes put off by the cold and I’d decide to “wait until the weather breaks …” But it never did.
This week I have a “string of three” going. By the time I get home it’ll be in the teens and I’d considered waiting until the weekend for the weather to warm up.
Luckily Samson wants to work out tonight.
Just so I’m clear: you were wearing pants when you took your stroll outside, right??
xo
I’m familiar with the “if I did it yesterday I can do it today” mentality -it kept me out on the running trails through my pregnancies (I can’t imagine fighting this wind chill on a bike, however!). Fifty degrees this weekend will feel absolutely heavenly…
I love the Garage Gallery!!
This weather makes me gloomy after a while. I get all psyched up about the snow and love it- for about a week. Then I get tired of being cold in the house no matter how much I crank up the heat!
I cannot WAIT to see 50 degrees this weekend!!!
Princess: During the lunchtime stroll I did, in fact, have pants on.
Heather D: Putting up with the wind chill on a bike would be nothing. I can’t imagine running while pregnant.
Sybil: A week is about right for snow. I can’t wait for the warm up.
The temps sounds like good running weather, but it is indeed the wind that gets you. Metal. Brrrrrr…
I just bought Yak Tracks, I’d been hesitant but they seem to help with footing and stuff. (Not brought you by Yak Tracks.) I also find that the sidewalks get frozen, and when they do they get really really hard which makes the running more physically difficult.