Cold weather dress

Cold weather dress:

One of the things that came to the top of the Beginner Runner Survey was what to wear.  Since we are, in my hemisphere, going into the deep part of winter, I’ll give you my thoughts on this.  This, again, is just what I do and you should ask some other runners what they do.  I tend to be fairly utilitarian in my dress code when running and any fashion considerations do not even make my radar screen.

First of all I always run outside in the winter.  The only time I’ll stay in is maybe in an ice storm, but I’ll run in a snow storm and I’ll run, even workouts and races, down to negative degrees Fahrenheit.  How do I do this?  Am I some sort of super-human? No, I’m just a normal runner and I dress appropriately.

There’s really two main bits you have to get right. First, you have to keep your core warm and second you have to protect those extremities that are prone to Mr. Frost’s bite.

For the core:

For your core you really want to invest in a good pair of thick winter tights.  Go to your favorite online running store and buy some that are specifically labeled “winter” tights.  Don’t be afraid to buy them big because I find they run on the small side.  I have winter tights and spring/fall tights.  I wear the winter tights when it gets below freezing.

I don’t were any special layers under them, maybe some technical underwear, but that’s it.  If you’re concerned about frost bite on your umm…naughty bits as Monty Python would say, you can layer on some bike shorts or just stuff a fleece hat down there to cut the wind.

For the upper core you are looking for three things, you want to keep your inner layers as dry as possible, you want to get some wind protection and you want to keep warm.  For my undershirt I wear any technical race Tee shirt.  Depending on how cold and windy it is I may wear long or short sleeve, and I may even wear two shirts layered, but it’s important that these shirts be technical enough to wick the sweat away from your body.  You don’t want to have wet clothes retaining water against your skin when it’s cold out or you will get the chills.

On top of these I wear a fleece sweater. I find the fleece breathes and wicks while keeping me warm.  I have two of these.  One is very big and has a hood and a half-zipper front.  I like this one because I can pull the hood up and pull my hands into the sleeves when I’m cold and unzip the hood if I get hot.

I have second sweater that is tighter and does not have the hood, but is made out of a material called illuminite that is highly reflective and I wear this on the roads at night, it keeps me warm and keeps me from getting killed by a car.

For the Pointy Bits:

For the non-core parts of your body you have some options, depending on how cold it is.  I like to wear a basic fuzzy ski hat that I can roll down over my ears when it’s cold and roll up or take off if it gets hot.  If the temperature falls into the single digits I will wear a fleece balaclava – this base layer really keeps you warm and you can adjust it so only a small portion of your face is showing.

On my hands I typically wear only a pair of plain old cotton running gloves.  I’ve tried the technical gloves but I find the cotton gloves to be a good, cheap solution.  If my hands get cold I can pull them into the sleeves of my sweater.  The cotton gloves are great for wiping your face or nose and you can take them off when it gets hot.

I don’t do anything special with my shoes and socks.  I know there are wind guards you can buy or make that cover the front of your shoe in the cold, but It’s never been an issue for me, even when running in a foot of snow.

This doesn’t have to break the bank.  The tights are the only thing you really need to not scrimp on.  The sweater you can buy at any department store, I use old tech race Tees as my under layers the gloves are less than $5 at any winter race expo and the fuzzy hats are the same one’s you’d wear skiing.

Don’t be afraid to run outside in the winter, just dress for it, be careful and enjoy it for what it is.