The temperature has dropped and the clocks have changed. For weekday running, this leaves us with the options of either early and cold… or dark and cold. It’s OK though because I have tips, yey, tips.
1. Put More Clothes On
Seriously, you don’t get any points for running in the least number of clothes and the chances are, if you’re going out half naked in sub-zero temperatures, you’ll skimp on warming up or cooling down. It’s harder to warm up your tendons, ligaments and musculature in the cold anyway, so you’re making a lot more work for yourself by wearing less and risking injury.
Also, ever find that your joints hurt when you come into the warm after a cold run? Well, that’s because those joints are based on liquid, and you’ve made them contract and expand.
2. Move From Park to Street
Look, if you run in the woods in summer there’s a chance you’ll interrupt a picnic by some delightful teddy bears … but if you run through the woods in winter, there’s every chance of things either getting spooky or fall-overy. There are ways of making the street a bit more interesting; my personal favourite is pub intervals (a form of fartlek where we run from one pub to the next), although admittedly this is much harder if you don’t know the area very well.
3. Run Fast
Again, this is not complicated but running quickly is going to keep you warmer so consider moving a speed session to midweek. Speed sessions are more interesting than long steady-state runs, so it might take your mind off how cold your extremities are.
4. Go down t’mill
Perfect for doing intervals at a specific pace – no need to self-regulate. If you have the means and technology you can use Zwift for a more interesting experience.