No need to make excuses and forgo running in winter, just use these tips to stay warm and injury free.
Move around inside enough to get the blood flowing without breaking a sweat. Run up and down your stairs, use a jump rope, or do a few yoga sun salutations. A speedy house-cleaning works, too, says runner D. A. Reng from Kentucky. “The cold doesn’t feel so cold when you’re warm,” says Laura Salmon of Akron, Ohio. If you’re meeting a group of running buddies, don’t stand around in the cold chatting before you run. “We sit in our cars waiting for one person to get out before we all get out.” says Adam Feerst, a coach and trail-race director in Denver, Colorado.
To keep warmth in and slush out, run in shoes that have the least amount of mesh. If you have shoes with Gore-Tex uppers, all the better, says Mark Grandonico, president of the Maine Track Club in Portland, Oregon. Wear socks that wick away wetness but keep your feet warm. Runner Joe McNulty of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania swears by non-itchy SmartWool socks.
You want to be warm without sweating so much that you get a chill. “The rule of thumb is to dress as if it is 20 degrees warmer,” says Grandonico. “You should be slightly cool when you start.” Think layers of technical fabric to wick sweat, with zippers at the neck and underarm area to vent air as you heat up. You’ll learn your own preferences, but runners Darrell Arribas, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, and Eric Maniloff, of Stittsville, Ontario, created these general guidelines. You should always wear gloves or mittens and a hat.
30 degrees: Two tops, one bottom. Long-sleeve base layer and a vest keep your core warm. Tights (or shorts, for polar bears).
10 to 20 degrees: Two tops, two bottoms. A jacket over your base layer, and wind pants over the tights.
0 to 10 degrees: Three tops, two bottoms. Two tops (fleece for the cold-prone) and a jacket. Windbrief for the fellas.
Minus 10 to 0 degrees: Three tops, two bottoms, extra pair of mittens, one scarf wrapped around mouth or a balaclava.
Minus 20 degrees: Three tops, three bottoms, two extra pairs of mittens, one balaclava, sunglasses. Or, says Arribas, “Stay inside.”
“Winter running is more about maintenance miles than speedwork,” says Feerst. In very cold weather, look for “inversions,” places that are elevated and where the air will be warmer. “Even 300 feet up, the air can be 20 degrees warmer, which makes a big difference,” says Steve Bainbridge, the trails liaison for Running Club North, based in Fairbanks, Alaska, which is the northernmost running club in the United States. Bainbridge’s coldest run took place in minus-50-degree weather. “My eyelashes were freezing together,” he says. “If you can’t run in the middle of the day when the temperatures are warmest, run twice a day,” says John Stanton, the founder of the Running Room in Edmonton, Alberta. Three miles in the morning and three miles in the evening: “That’s better than doing one long six-mile run where you might get very cold toward the end.”
Your core body temperature drops as soon as you stop running. To avoid a lingering case of the chills, change your clothes—head to toe—as soon as you can. Women need to get out of damp sports bras quickly. Put a dry hat on wet hair. And drink something hot. “We go to a coffee shop after our runs, and take turns using the bathroom to change,” says Grandonico. “Then we all relax with coffee and bagels.” Driving to a run? Bring a thermos of green tea or hot chocolate in your vehicle.