I’ve gotten several emails and comments asking what my strategy is to deal with the cold.. So i’ll sum up what I do to prepare for the cold. Note that I live in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania (Allentown area), so cold for me might not be as cold for wherever you are. Our average temperature right now is around 35 degrees as a high, with a low in the low to mid 20’s… If you’ve read through my blog, i’m just NOT a treadmill guy, regardless of the weather. My opinion is that doing anymore than 4 miles on a treadmill is very painful (more boring then painful I guess) .. but again, thats my opinion.

So how do I prepare for a cold days run? Here is my advice based on my own daily routine:

1. Despite my rant about the weather channel yesterday, always check the weather report for your area first and take note of three things. First, the current temperature, the ‘feels like’ temperature and the current wind speed. All three play a pretty significant role in preparation for a cold run. Another important thing to note is whether the sun will be out or not, because it tends to be warmer in the sun then if running in overcast (obviously). A wind speed greater than 5 mph when its 30 degrees is actually colder then you think, keep it in mind. I generally do my daily runs when its still dark, so its not even a factor for most of my daily runs … (hopefully not for too much longer though).

2. Like everyone else says, dress in layers, I generally head out with my Hind running pants (some call them tights, whatever), with a base layer underneath, always seems to keep me warm. I then wear 4 layers on top if its under 25 degrees, and 3 layers if its under 35 degrees.

3. always plot your course first using a tool like Gmap pedometer or Map My Run and take note during your course preparation of what directions you’ll be running in. I always split the time I have to run into the oncoming wind (that you got from #1 above) with the time when I don’t have to run into the wind. Some people prefer to end their run going into the wind when its cold, but i’d prefer to go into the wind at the start of my run with my reason being, I know i’ll sweat up during the run regardless of the temperature, and running into the cold wind when sweaty can cause frost-bite (trust me, i’ve almost been there a few times in plotting bad courses).

4. I always track the weather in my training log, along with how many layers and how I felt about it. This helps me in future planning because I know that if it was 20 degrees, 10mph wind, feels like 5, I know how successful I was wearing 4 top layers, 2 bottom layers, 2 gloves and 2 socks plus a facemasked hat. This information is priceless and i’ve found its the single most important piece of information that I have added to my training log in recent years.

5. Remember that as cold as you are in the first 10-15 minutes, you will always warm up if you’re dressed accordingly. Generally I find that if i’m cold in the first mile or two, I’m generally warm by mile 3 (or as warm as you can get). Again, this depends on a lot of factors, but you have to hang in there and get through the first 2 miles and you’ll be okay, trust me, you will be cold at first, but you’ll warm up.

6. Don’t start stripping layers too early in your run! You’ll find that after your body warms up, you’ll start to sweat in your under layers and you might think that you can start to lose layers. You have to realize that you’re body will get real warm before it regulates itself, so if you start stripping layers too early in this process, you might find yourself cold. The stripping of layers always depends also on whether you have more time planned running the cold wind later in your run. You’ll seriously regret it.

There is no better advice though then to use good judgment regardless of your preparation. If you’re not used of running in the cold, the best advice is to do a short run only and stay close to home in case you’re planning wasn’t up to par. I’ve put myself in bad situations by using bad planning and running too far away from the house (sometimes 5-6 miles out). Don’t get yourself in a bad situation and if all else fails, duck into a restaurant or a mini-mart and call home for a ride you absolutely can’t make it! The above tips work for me, but thats me … use them as guidance to setup your own tips…