RSS FeedThe Finish Line
For those of us who get the majority of our daily exercise jogging outdoors, fall & winter can be brutal. The cold, wind, and darkness make getting yourself out of bed early or motivating yourself after work exceedingly difficult. We’re constantly trying to come up with ways to make our jogs more fun while trying to keep our minds off the face-numbing cold.
One way we’ve tried to keep ourselves going is by picking our finish line. There is a tree directly in front of (behind? whatever the Mall side is considered) the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. All of the other trees are on the grassy areas that cover the mall, but this tree is directly in the pedestrian path, and we love it. Situated at about 10th ST, we use this often as our starting point for our early morning jogs, and we always use it as our finish line.
Creating a finish line for our daily jogs has helped us in some of our recent street races. As we’ve been pushing ourselves for the last 3 tenths of a mile every morning, we find we’ve got more in the tank at the finish line of a real race.
Do any of our readers have any mental tips or tricks to help with these cold winter runs?
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Comments
Maybe the purchase of some new cold weather gear will do the trick. Or some Christmas music on the ipod.
My turn around point is the Washington Monument on weekdays and the Lincoln Memorial on weekends. I love running this time of year. I just put on a bunch of layers and head out.
good article!
i’ve recently started using http://dailymile.com – neat way to imply some motivation though transparency and perhaps some social pressure. it lets you post your workouts and track metrics/etc.
they let you sign up for the beta to get an invite; or i have a few invites left also.
Take your normal run and time yourself one day. Next time, if you have a running watch – set it to count down from that time to zero – great way to push yourself the last couple of blocks as the time is counting down 00:59, 00:58, 00:57…..
I really like both of those suggestions (Levis & Live&WorkinPQ). One of nice things about cold weather runs is that there are so few people out you really feel like you’ve got the city to yourself (so few at 5:45 am anyway). But when you’re running around East Potomac Park that early in the morning, it can be a little eerie too.
Great to hear about your running!
Hope to see you at the 7th Annual Thanksgiving Day Trot for Hunger 5K by So Others Might Eat (SOME). The mayor will be there! 8;30AM http://www.some.org/inv_eve_trot.html
Also at the Jingle All The Way 10K on December 14 @ 8AM.
http://www.runwashington.com/other/jaw10klist.html
Both races are in Potomac Park, starting just south of the Lincoln Memorial. Near the intersection of Ohio Drive and Independence Avenue. Advance registration required for both races.
You will recognize the voice (or maybe the keyboard style) of the announcer.
Thanks for the info Tour Guide! I will not be in town for the Thanksgiving day race, but might run the Jingle All The Way. I just ran the Veterans Day 10K which was the same course as JATW, it’s a great run. A little boring, but crazy fast. I shaved almost a full minute per mile off my personal best on that run.
I do the same thing when I’m running in PQ. I particularly like this one which features a nice downhill.
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aargh, that tree! Yesterday there were a bunch of puddles around it, and the usual tourists with their haphazard guidance systems. It’s not so bad though. Dodging all the obstacles on a Mall run is half the fun.
Motivation is hard though. This week I ran on the treadmill once because I didn’t want to deal with the cold, and the traffic. And I hate the treadmill. I probably hadn’t run on one in at least six months.