What temperature makes it unsafe to run outside?

-273.15 C

Well, then our fellow runners in Minnesota should stay inside today.

Calvin Brodus wrote:

-273.15 C

In Canada I skied XC when it was -25C which is like -13F. It was great. Don't be a puss. Its always colder someplace else and there is always some one running in worse weather than you.

there also is always someone smoking crack but that doesn't mean it is good for you.

NY runner wrote:

In Canada I skied XC when it was -25C which is like -13F. It was great. Don't be a puss. Its always colder someplace else and there is always some one running in worse weather than you.

In college, we ran in -46F with the wind chill... bundle up!

I went to HS in Minnesota and those fools would race all year round... XC Skiing, road racing, you name it. YOu just need to dress appropriately (layers and be sure to cover your face and digits) and try to run against the wind at the beginning at the run and with the wind at the end. I know for a fact that it is possible to run in -22F (without wind chill) for about an hour (personal experience).

Four very slow miles at -46C one time - not including wind chill. Worst thing was the ice fog. Couldn't keep the eyelashes from freezing together.

Safe? Sure, why not - bundle up. I'm sure there are some Alaskans who can top this one.

ran in -30 windchill this weekend. i have raced in -20 temps. there's nothing dangerous about it if you cover your skin and wear good clothes.

I used to always wonder about frostbite. Never have come close to having it though. Worst windchill I ever have run in is 12 miles at -70.

Yesterday it was 7 degrees. I went on an out and back and had to run 6 miles straight into the wind with my face uncovered but no problems really. Actually it wasn't that bad, about 15 mph wind.

If it's over 110 degreees Fahrenheit, you should probably postpone your run until it cools down a little.

Much into the negatives and I'll start to adjust training a little. Move hard stuff ahead a few days if it's supposed to warm up. Better to get some rest and run a better workout in a few days. Won't take days off though unless were talking -20 and below.

By the way, wind chill is for chumps. 10 with 20mph winds isn't -5 (or whatever), it's 10 and windy.

[quote]gumby wrote:

Won't take days off though unless were talking -20 and below.

[quote]

Why -20F - that's an artificial limit. We'd miss a lot of days around here if we had an arbitrary cutoff like that.

Sure if it's really cold and you have a quality run scheduled, you might want to take it indoors, but if it's a plain, old daily run or long run, just bundle up, slow down, and put in the time in the great outdoors.

Once it gets in the single digits, I take my runs inside on a track (I'm lucky enough to have an indoor track at my disposal). I've tried runs in those temps and find it very unproductive. No matter how many layers I wear, my feet and hands become uncomfortably numb.

the key is to wear good clothes. a couple of layers on the bottom (ex: running shorts, tights, running pants) and a few on your core (long underwear, a couple of tops, and if its really cold I usually wear a light shell--windblocking is key) For the face, make sure that you are covered--ski masks are great, especially when you are running in town, or those fleece neck tubes and vaseline (covering your mouth and warming the air on the way in is key). You can always dig something up for your hands, hell mitts are great. Wear wool socks to keep your ankles warm. Wear glasses or ski goggles, if it is really bad.

One of the most unpleasant experiences of my life was running 7 miles with temperatures in the negative single digits (negative 30s with windchill) with my face uncovered, and no layering on my bottom half (i had on a pair of boxers and soccer shorts). By the end of the run I was slurring my speech and had spit frozen all over my jaw, and my dong hurt like none other. I was at a high school other than my own, and I didn't know where the locker room was, so for a while I just ran my hands (which were frozen and hurting badly as well) under the water in the water fountain and held my junk to try to warm it up and make it feel better. After a while I found the coach of that high school, and he told me where the locker room was and I headed there and struggled to get my clother off with my barely-functionaing hands. Once I did I found out that my dong was purple and swollen to a size that, under other circumstances, I would have been quite happy about. When I first turned on the shower I accidentally turned on the hot water, which hurt like a mother f***er. Once I managed to turn on the cold I spent the next ten minutes holding shivering, being miserable, and holding onto the safety bar slumped and whimpering in the corner of the shower. My dong hurt for the next few hours and didn't feel normal for two days. I was worried I'd done permanent damage.

I'll still go out for my run when it's that cold, but now I do a better job of layering.

I grew up in southern California, but have run in Minnesota when it was -17F, and about -50F wind chill. I think I ran about 8 miles. No biggie if you layer right, but it's also not fun at all.

[quote]me... wrote:

there also is always someone smoking crack but that doesn't mean it is good for you.

It does if you are trying to be the best crack smoker. So, go run. Frank Shorter and Pre used to run in Taos when the weather was cold, there was snow all around and they had skiied all day. I think the remark Shorter made to Pre was that no one in the world was training harder than they were.