How cold is too cold?

Not a Coach wrote:

Our teachers used to send us out to play rugby on deep snow, wearing just a shirt and shorts.

Forget the shirt:

Precious Roy wrote:

I once ran about 800 m when it was -19 deg in Cleveland. I was trying to get into a building at school and had to run to another part of the campus to find an open door. I had on a winter coat and manny layers underneath. My lungs burned for about four hours after breathing the sub zero air. Unless you are planning on competing in similar conditions, hit the treadmill when temps go below zero. If you are on a trail and have an injury, you won't be able to stay warm if you have to limp home and can get in serious trouble.

That is true. Hypothermia is a risk. Fortunately I live and run in a big city where there are always people around.

Last night I went for a run outdoors, in homage to CG.

I figure that to not go outdoors because it is "cold" is just plain wimpy, I should be GLAD for the fact that I can run at all.

It was 6F at the time, I wasn't wearing much, and I sweated my bag off. I know about cold, so I piled it on my neck, head, and hands.

I roasted like you wouldn't believe.

It's been really cold here lately, around -10 or -15F, but there really isn't any snow. With that experience last night, and with temps forecast in the 20's this weekend, I'm seriously thinking of starting some outdoor sprint drills at the track...with wool socks and my larger trainers, of course.

Maybe slowly and gingerly, to avoid shin splints.

I would say that there is a step function at around -20C, below which it actually feels cold, and where wind chill (even just from running), can get nasty.

I've gone as low as -21F, wind chill -80F, but i did not wear anything on my face, just a wool headband for my ears. My face was numb after 1/2m or so.

I have to admit that lately anything below zero bothers me, but mostly because my eyes get dry and I'm constantly having to blink. Odd and distinctly unpleasant.

Usually tights for my legs, a t-shirt and an old gore-tex jacket is OK for up to -10F.

I live in cold country.

V02 max starts to decline markedly at -3 or -4F, so that's a good sign that your body is adjusting to conditions that are perhaps not meant to be pushed. The international cutoff standard for nordic ski racing is -20 C, which happens to coincide with -4 F.

That said, an acclimated and properly dressed athlete can do threshold workouts down to -10 or even -15 F (-23 to -26 C) without too much difficulty.

Easy runs, anything below about -20 F (-29 or -30 C) is getting pretty miserable.

I ran up Mt. Washington this morning just to get ready for this year;s race.

I have been running outside when it is ~5° with ~-5° wind chill. I normally go for about 30 minutes at a time. I find it is best to actually run at a somewhat faster pace than my usual easy runs. Oh, and I wear shorts and a t-shirt no matter how cold it is, but I always wear gloves (no hat though). I find that if I were to run any longer than 30-40 minutes doing this it might get pretty dangerous, but I keep my runs that short, and do some warm up exercises and stretches inside before and after my run.

Personally, when it gets into single-digits (F) I go inside and do laps in the campus gym. I'm not Mr. ToughGuy or training for the Olympics or anything, it just isn't worth freezing my arse off - even when it's 20 F it takes me about 20 minutes of running before I feel comfortably warm.

J Dawg--

You're talking Celsius, right?

A few runs this week in single digits with windchill below zero.

I haven't had the opportunity to run with the real temp below zero. 4 degrees with a nasty wind (-12) was the coldest.

I just throw my plan out the window and just do an easy 3-4 miles MAX when it's that cold. If you want to do a long run or workout, do it inside.

Personally it feels good to get outside, even if much shorter.

if rupp can train in the horrible conditions of eugene where it rains pollen daily, i think you boys can withstand a little cold.

Below zero is no fun-but I think it's safe even for high school kids down to 20 below. Intervals, with stopping and starting, are a bad idea. Long runs, tempos where you keep moving are fine. Nothing makes you mentally tougher.

Vaseline on the face to keep from frostbite. Polypropylene longjohns.

I actually would take 5 or 10 degrees over 25-30 if there's snow on the ground because it stays frozen-no slush and wet feet, and it's not as slippery.

Read Shackleton's story when you think it's too cold. He camped out below zero for the better part of a year-and then sailed 800 miles across the roughest seas in the world in an open boat.

I'm from Texas. Anything below 30 is a treadmill day for me.

50 F to cold! br!

What's all this talk about covering your mouth. I live in southern vt, so its been in the low 10's plus windchill lately, but haven't been covering my mouth up at all

-10F with no wind could lead to frostbite in under an hour in dry, exposed skin. Lung function declines as the temps dip below 0F (wind factor negligible) because the humidity is so low, and much of the body's moisture will go to the lungs to bring the air up to temp and then is exhaled as water vapor. At that point, the body dehydrates, despite the lack of noticeable sweat, increasing blood pressure which prompts the kidneys to filter and excrete more urine than usual, furthering dehydration. There is virtually no risk to freezing your eyeballs, as the intense blood flow from all muscles around your eye will keep the area at or near 98F, and the salinity of the vitreous humor and tears lowers the freezing point of the liquid.

Therefore, if you are properly dressed and mindful of hydration, you can pretty much run and do whatever your want, but you will see diminishing marginal returns because your body will just not function well.

Only need to cover mouth below 0 tough guy. At least I do, living in a place where it only happens a few days a year, other wise my lungs hurt. It's possible you can adjust to it I guess.

I have done many sub-zero runs. As long as you dress properly you should be fine. Join the select few in the negative digit running club.

adslkfsjalkfjasdf wrote:

Personally I find that a lot of the XC ski gear is better suited for the really cold stuff than the running gear.

___________________________

This is my 40th year running in Canadian winters [Ontario and Quebec] and XC ski gear is much better than running gear. I use SWIX and Salomon.