The joys of win­ter running

Recently I wrote about how win­ter can be a great time for indoor cross-​​training for run­ners. But just because it’s cold out­side doesn’t mean you have to hide out inside for the entire sea­son. Win­ter is a won­der­ful sea­son for run­ning, as long as you are prepared.

Dress for the weather

First things first. If you want to enjoy win­ter out­door activ­i­ties, you have to dress appro­pri­ately. For folks in warmer cli­mates this is obvi­ously less impor­tant, but if you live in a snowy area this is absolutely crit­i­cal. Road­Run­ner Sports has a good guide on win­ter apparel that you should check out.

What is com­fort­able for one per­son may not be com­fort­able for another, so you may need to exper­i­ment a lit­tle to get to know what lay­ers to wear in which con­di­tions. I find the fol­low­ing to be com­fort­able for me (tem­per­a­tures are with wind-​​chill taken into account, not ambient):

• 40 to 50 – light­weight run­ning tights and a long sleeve shirt
• 30 to 40 – add a short sleeve shirt and fleece gloves to the above
• 20 to 30 – add a wind­breaker and a fleece hat to the above
• 10 to 20 – add an extra pair of shorts (for wind pro­tec­tion) or wind­pants and a fleece top to the above
• Below 10 – Shorts and a short sleeve shirt indoors for me

Small safety note — Any time the tem­per­a­ture drops below 20, make sure you watch out for frost­bite and be sure to cover up your ears.

What I love about cold weather running

I think what I love most about win­ter run­ning is the air. I find that hot weather run­ning, espe­cially when it’s humid, can feel sti­fling for me. I feel like it slows me down and that the air is too thick to breathe. At the end of a run in hot weather, I pant and pant and can’t seem to cool down.

Win­ter run­ning air, on the other hand, feels refresh­ing to me. I love being able to run with­out get­ting com­pletely drenched in sweat. I love the clar­ity of the air on really cold days, and how the views dur­ing my run are that much clearer and that much crisper than in the hazy humid­ity of sum­mer. I love breath­ing out steam at the end of a run, and hav­ing the cold air fill­ing my lungs help to cool me down quickly. Most of all, I love run­ning while it’s actu­ally snowing!

What bugs me about win­ter running

Of course, noth­ing is ever per­fect. I don’t like need­ing to change the parts of my reg­u­lar routes that go over grass when the snow gets too deep. I don’t like the slush and mud on roads after the fresh­ness of new snow has worn off. And I don’t like hav­ing less shoul­der to run on as more and more snow accu­mu­lates on the sides of the roads. So in the win­ter I tend to run out­side on the crisp clear days and when the snow is fresh, and then I take it indoors or try other activ­i­ties when the roads aren’t so nice.

So don’t let the win­ter trap you inside! Gear up, pick a nice cold day, and expe­ri­ence the joys of win­ter run­ning for yourself!

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