There's always a bright side

Yesterday's threshold run fell into the 'just get out there and get it done' category.  There had been snow on and off all day and the wind had been gusting to 50mph but by 5pm, the skies had cleared and the wind had dropped to 20mph.  Just in time to squeeze in my run.

So I bundled up in my winter jacket, windproof tights (I had forgotten that I had these - what a joy they have been to wear!), gloves, buff to keep my neck warm, and headband to keep my ears warm and set out for a 10 minute warm-up, 4x8 minutes at threshold effort, and a 10 minute cool-down.  I tried to find a route that minimised the impact of the wind but I'm in Shetland this week, which means that no matter what direction you face, you're facing into the wind.  Oh well.  Mental toughness, right?

And I was tough - I kept my effort at threshold level into the wind, up the inclines, and even when I had to dodge pedestrians who got blown into my path - but then, two minutes into the last interval, it started to hail.  Fortunately this didn't last long; unfortunately, the hail changed to sleet, which changed to snow, which changed back to sleet again.  In case you were wondering, 20mph wind and sleet are not a good combination.  It felt like the skin was being flayed from my face.  I had to stop (pausing my Garmin, of course) to transform my buff into a balaclava in an attempt to protect my face from the elements.  And then I had to stop again 30 seconds after that because I couldn't see where I was going due to white-out conditions.  Once I could see enough to stay on the path, I finished the interval as quickly as I could without sliding off the path into the loch.  Phew.  Only a 10 minute cool-down run back to the house was left.  It sleeted the whole way.

I was very thankful to step through my front door, but then I caught sight of myself in the hall mirror.  My hair was iced over and had frozen to my head but more alarming was my fringe, which had frozen at a right angle to my head and looked like a windsock.  Oh, the horror.

Still, it could have been worse.  I could have had to do this run on the treadmill.