It's the middle of February and I really hope you are running!! At least a little bit anyway :-) I know this is a hard time of year to run because we're at the mercy of the weather and road conditions. I have to say .. all things considered this winter hasn't been bad at all for running. I think I've only had to cancel one or two runs and that was because it snowed and it took a few days to get the roads clear. But, I've been able to get out at least three times per week which is only one day less than what I do in good weather. Ideally, I like to go out four days. But, on the other hand, I'm not training for anything right now and this is a good time to give my legs/body a little bit of a rest.
I have some tips for cold weather running that I think would be helpful.
The first thing is, go and buy yourself some warm long underwear. They don't have to be expensive, but the key to staying warm on a winter run is LAYERS! I have some Nike FitDry that I bought at Marshall's last year and it's wonderful. Each piece was less than $20 and it was money well spent. That is my "base layer. "
The next layer on my legs is a pair of sweat pants (Target) or fleece pants (Old Navy). My next layer on top is a lightweight pullover jacket (Brooks). I got mine online at http://runningwarehouse.com/fpw.html for less than $30. I love that jacket - it's so versatile. (I love that website, too. They have great deals!) I usually wear another lightweight jacket on top of that and sometimes even an additional windshirt in between. Have you lost track of how many layers we're up to? That's 2 layers on the bottom and 3-4 layers on top.
I always wear mittens rather than gloves. They seem to keep my hands warmer. If it's really cold, I'll even wear 2 pairs of mittens.
On my head, I wear either a hat or a headband...sometimes both! This is going to sound strange, but if I wear a hat alone, I sometimes feel the cold air go up inside my hat (maybe my hat is a little too loose?) so on rare occasions, I'll actually wear my headband on top of my hat so it all fits nice and snug.
Okay, last but not least is the most important part - my feet. Up until recently, I just accepted that my feet would always be cold during a winter run. (Actually, my feet are cold even when I'm in the house!) Normally, I would wear two pairs of socks and would still be cold. Recently, I started to wear wool socks on top of my regular running socks. This may not work for everyone..my socks are extremely thick and bulky. I could see how that would bother most people. My running shoes happen to be a full size bigger than my regular shoes so I have quite a bit of room. With the thick wool socks, my shoes are a bit snug, but not tight enough to bother me. I'll deal with it in order to have warm feet. I absolutely hate having cold feet.
The last item you need for a successful winter run is tissues! There's something about being in the cold that really makes your nose run like a faucet. I'm not alone on this, am I?
If you have any tips of your own, send them to me and I'll add them to my list.
Stay warm and keep running :-)
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