Minus What?

Living in the Midwest and now Rocky Mountains for the past 20 years has given me a hint at what cold weather feels like. I have no intention of competing with the folks in Minnesota or Maine, but for an Indian raised in Memphis, I have experienced my threshold. This weekend some records were hit with a low being recorded at -18 degrees. That is just damn cold.

There was a time when I would have liked to test my limits by getting outside and experiencing that weather. This year, I am content to cozy up indoor. Fortunately my exercise regimen did not suffer. I now have my road bike set up downstairs on the trainer and have taken a couple of 45 minute spins. Along with treadmills and indoor pools, the winter which officially begins in another 5 days can provide opportunity for some great base building.

For me this base building provides an excellent data for my current data collection kick. Treadmills and trainers and insulated from temperature variations, wind and elevation gains and can allow me to track some remarkably stable heart rate output.



Unfortunately the skier in me has hung up his skis and poles for at least another few seasons until the kids decide it is something they want to try. Otherwise the fresh powder in the mountains would be very tempting.