I’m taking a page from Paul Flannery, a writer I began following a few months ago, and starting a Friday Ramble. The name is pure plagiarism – Flannery sends out a Ramble each Friday to his Running Probably subscribers – but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. It’s a great way to jot down some thoughts from the week and flex my fingers a bit, without eating into the content I’m focusing on in my own Sunday newsletter.
My New Mic
I’m working on a new project that requires I record audio. I promise it’s not a podcast. But I got my Blue Yeti microphone on Thursday and have been teaching myself the basics about audio recording. Number one on my mind is stopping myself from smacking my lips during a recording, or at the very least keeping the sound of my saliva from being picked up by the microphone. Haven’t figured it out yet, so all my recordings sound like I just drank a warm glass of milk and slept with my mouth open. Gross
The Blue Yeti microphone is a hefty piece of equipment and makes this new project feel very official. I was trying to record with corded Apple headphones before, and they just weren’t doing the trick, both in the quality of the recording but also in the mental image of myself they produced. I think there’s a bare minimum level of equipment you need in order to convince yourself of the quality of your end product. Or maybe that’s just me. But this guy certainly does the trick:
Cool Running + Gear
The temperature for my run this morning was about 18 degrees, with a real feel of 10 degrees. It was freezing, and since I ran south along the water it was also super windy.
The truth is that most conditions you’d encounter in a city like New York are runnable. We’re not dealing with negative 30 degrees and 20 mph winds very often, if ever. The key is finding the balance between staying warm enough – i.e. safe – and not sweating.
I botched it this morning.
I wore a full body ODLO Blackcomb baselayer, a Patagonia Down Sweater jacket, a pair of cheap running gloves and a wool hat. My hands were freezing, my face was freezing, and my wind-induced tears froze in the corners of my eyes. But my body was sweltering. I had to zip and unzip my jacket a handful of times to let the cold air in and cool down the sweat a bit. Definitely a slight failure in preparation.
I know deep down that my torso never needs as many layers as I think, but it’s hard, looking at such extreme temperatures for the first time in a season, to not overdo it. It’s always the extremities you need to prepare for, not the body.
Anyway, so long as I’m not frostbitten by the time I make it home, I’m having a good time. It’s a process, and the more times I run in this weather the better I’ll be at gauging exactly what to wear.
Waking Up Early in Winter
I typically go to bed by 9:30pm and wake up at 5:30am. I like to get stuff done in the morning (like my writing for this site) and, for the most part, that wake-up time works well for me.
For some reason, that’s turned on its head in winter. Waking up that early becomes difficult half of the time, and I close my eyes for a minute and when I open them again it’s 6:30am. I don’t understand it. Probably something about the dark and the cold, but still very confusing. On the other mornings I practically jump out of bed.
This all drives me crazy, because I like routine and consistency, and it’s annoying have a few hours before work on some mornings, and less time on others.
That’s it for this Friday – enjoy the weekend!