cold weather running

geronimo wrote:

Charity coach wrote:

Yes, your lungs can freeze.

Go to an emergency room and tell them your lungs may have frost bite, then go buy a treadmill for any temperature under 50 degrees.

What kind of pussy talk is this?

You think runners in Minnesota and Canada do this? Think again, wuss.

not one for sarcasm, are you?

I'll agree with the guys who had their thing get unusually cold, hurts like hell! For me it hurt two days straight, had to take the next day off. Not a fun time, I've had a glove in there ever since in cold weather.

jaybird wrote:

8 miles in 5 degree weather today...no problems because I dressed appropriately. gloves, hat, long sleeve dri fit top under goretex jacket & regular running shorts and sporthill bottoms. oh yeah, and you can't forget the "weiner warmer" (i.e. washcloth). as long as the wind chill stays above 30 below you should be OK.

I've never tried a washcloth before, I've always used an extra glove, which would move around too much. Thanks for the idea!

come-on now! cold weather running makes you stronger. My cold weather PB is -20 below zero with a stiff wind that brought the chill factor down to minus - 40 F. some hints:

1. Don't give in and run on a treadmill.

2. carefuly watch the thermometer and take note of what you wear when its 10 degrees or 0 or 10 below etc etc. Then you can dress perfectly for the conditions without worry the next time out. ie. I wear sporthill pants down to 10 and below that I add windpants, I wear two hats if its below zero, I wear a neckwarmer when its 10 degrees or below and will pull it over my nose if running into a strong wind or as needed.

3. Use cold as motivation knowing that your competition might and probably won't be out there.

PS there is nothing better than passing someone at Boston in with a good tan. If a northern runner and a southern runner are battleing it out, my money is on the guy who trained through a cold, dark northern winter.

You know I have been reading "old school George Sheehan" this last few days and he mentions in one of the chapters that excercise physiologists determined that wearing clothes suitable for 70 degrees (F) is exceptible clothing for -5(F) while running. Dr. George also mentioned wool mittens over gloves and layers. He also swore by turtlenecks to keep the neck arteries warm and he wore a asthma mask which he looked forward to. George ran a 447 mile at age 50 over 30 years ago so give the boy some kudos!

yeah, those kenyan runners are crap because they don't train through a cold, dark northern winter

islandmaineiac wrote:

PS there is nothing better than passing someone at Boston in with a good tan. If a northern runner and a southern runner are battleing it out, my money is on the guy who trained through a cold, dark northern winter.

I find that a fleece hunting hood is a great piece of equipment. You can find them at any walmart/sports store. Most have a flap that can be worn over your mouth, or folded out of the way. There are a dozen different styles I have seen, and they are fantastic at keeping your throat and lungs from freezing.

I also recommend the briefs with a wind panel.

The best place if you can't find a runnign store to get clothes for cold weather is always teh hunting department, you just have embrace camo as a fashion statement.

Don't be a pussy. They make clothing for a reason, not just to cover up ugly bodies. I coach HS girls and they run outside every day without complaining. The boys team at our school doesn't go out on cold days, yesterday it was 9 degrees and we had 40 girls out running, boys inside. You will never guess which team is better, and it ain't close.

The boys team?

"In one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history, Christine Clark, 37-year-old physician and mother of two in Anchorage, Alaska won the Olympic Marathon Trials in South Carolina finishing in 2:33:31, improving her personal record by 7:07. She did almost all her training indoors on a treadmill in her basement. Training at a warm indoor temperature gave her the additional advantage of being better prepared for the heat in South Carolina than most of her competitors. She was still running strong during the last six miles of the race."

Where is Pete when you need him to chime in? First, they link to an article about Yellowknife on the front page, and there is a thread about cold weather running. That guys spends a lot of time way up in northern Canada, so I'm sure he knows a lot about running in the cold.

The worst part of getting your "junk" frozen is when you have to take a leak. It's like the pain of putting a frozen hand under hot water, except...well, much worse.

My coldest weather record for running is -25F. The streets were mostly deserted, as it was a holiday and pretty early. I saw one other runner out--an old guy with a big beard, covered in frost. He waved from across the street and said something like, "Ahhhhh!" It sounded like some kind of Nordic warrior greeting. It made me feel badass.

My bad if this has already been brought up somewhere but...

Its not the cold that gets me (although the wind can be brutal), its the snow and ice that are what keep me in some days. How do you guys handle unshoveled walks and snowy/icy hills in neighborhoods?

[quote]Charity coach wrote:

Yes, your lungs can freeze.

quote]

That is a fallacy that you can freeze your lungs by running in the cold weather. What really happens is that your saliva freezes in your throat eventually closing off your air supply. You can prevent this by filling your camelback with hot tea or cocoa on your cold weather run.

I find popping a sockpuppet on percy porker keeps the old fellow warm.

The fact that you even wear a camelback while running says it all.

It is impossible for saliva to freeze in your throat, your body temp would have to pretty damn low, like 32.

That post made me laugh, really hard.

fUrCeOsNhN wrote:

The weird thing is, my legs, arms, torso or face never ever get cold. Even in 15 degree weather during my workout yesterday (an hour of track drills and sprints then another hour home) through blustery winds my legs never got cold. My head never gets cold so I don't wear a hat either.

My hands always seem to get cold, especially when it is windy. I wear thin cotton gloves, should I wear another heavier pair over them?

wear mittens or wool socks.

Winter running is fine if you follow most of the advice already posted. I've never tried the washcloth method. I found that once it gets below -15F it gets pretty uncomfortable due to all the extra clothing. Never run below -25F.

fUrCeOsNhN wrote:

Never run below -25F.

And what makes the magic number -25F?? Does the earth suddenly open and swallow you whole at -25F?

Personally I've run at -46C (before windchill) and lived to tell about it. It was a very slow 30 minutes, but it got done. I'm sure there are guys in Alaska and the NWT who've gone colder. When you live in the North you learn to adapt to cold weather.

A few observations about running in extreme cold (-40F and below):

1. The ice fog makes it hard to see and be seen

2. The cushioning in your shoes freezes so they don't work as well as they should

3. Cover your face - you may have to change your snot and ice covered face covering after 20 to 30 minutes

4. Don't stray too far from home (or a warm building) in case you freeze something and need to warm it up quickly.

wow i thought I had it bad running in around 10 degrees the other day... I actually was overdressed and my sweat froze on my hat and gloves.

Sorry that was poor grammar, as in "I've never run in below -25F". I have never had the opportunity.