Its been a good week of training so far, I was able to push up my mid-week ‘long’ run up to 10 miles without any issue. It was nice to get back to some of the old longer routes I was doing in the late summer before work. At this point, making sure I have enough time to get my run in and be ready to head to work by 7:15am is the biggest challenge each morning, but i’ve been managing it pretty good. I got my 28 miles in so far (since Monday), so i’m on the right track.

I actually won’t complain about the cold weather as of yet (believe it or not), because I’m getting acclimated to it now and have found the way to deal with it. Somewhere I heard that this has been the coldest winter in 25 years … so if I can get through it, it’ll make me stronger for future years I would imagine.

So whats my strategy to face the cold when running?

1. Dress in layers and take dry hat if necessary. This is what everyone says to do when talking about running in winter and it does work. I find that I was overdressing to accommodate the first mile or two but then found I was drenched with sweat by mile 5 (which eventually made me cold). I only wear my facemask if I need it running against the wind, then take it off .. and if I don’t need my hat, I take it off for a bit to stay cool. My biggest issue with running is that I sweat terribly .. (kind of gross, eh?) The biggest goal in doing this is to keep my body cool to better manage the sweat. Usually about 5 or 7 miles in, my hat might be wet and starting to freeze if its a 10 degree wind chill, so an extra hat always does the trick… this stuff really does work.

2. As I wrote over the weekend, knowing what direction the wind is coming out of and plotting my course around it has helped the most. Its really the wind chill that is so bad, not necessarily the temperature, so if I limit my time running into the wind, and use the facemask when I need to .. its been working good.

3. I have to stay hydrated. I have been making sure to drink enough water prior to heading out to stay hydrated. As I wrote in the summer, its amazing the way your body changes when its dehydrated, and even when its freezing outside (and you sweat like I do), you can still dehydrate, it just might not be so obvious.

4. Keep my skin covered .. as i wrote in #1, the wind is the worst part and i’m always warm except for those areas that are exposed. Limiting that exposure keeps me from getting frost bite (which is possible).

5. Good music .. making sure I have the right tunes to keep my pace and head up while running always helps. I’ve built up such a large music library now, i’m never without a good song to keep the spirits up.

There is really no magic to it .. I thin its all about attitude.

So yesterdays speed workout really kicked my butt .. no snow this week, but I did manage to knock 5 seconds off each of my 800’s (I did 6 again), so thats a step in the right direction. I can feel myself getting in better shape (which is good for January), the training plus the eating better and the attitude change, its a recipe for success.

Well, tomorrows 18 miler will be a frigid run (15 degree, 0 WC), but i’m sticking to cold weather running tips I’ve been using above and I will get through one way or another. Only 10 weeks until spring .. 😉