Winter Running for Cheapskates.

Tips from a thrifty Yankee.

Every year you open up your favorite running magazine and see the “Best Winter Gear” reviews.  They’ve got high-tech hats, gloves and jackets for you.  It’s all great stuff.

I even see podcasters jumping on the bandwagon and being sponsored by clothing companies for these annual spreads of sartorial winter splendor.

All this gear is good at keeping you warm and dry and comfortable so that you can be all that you can be and live up to your winter running potential.  But, you know what all that gear is really good at?  Emptying your bank account.

Let me be the Grinch here and give you some alternate strategies from a guy who’s been running through New England winters since before they invented technical fabrics.

Let’s begin with some definitions.

I’m going to speak in Fahrenheit, because, well, “Merica”, and you can do the conversions.

Of course, cold is relative.  I have friends who run in shorts no matter how cold it gets.  If you go to a race up here, there will be some dude in high cut shorts and a singlet. Guaranteed, it doesn’t matter if it’s 12 below. That dude has a different thermostat.  It’s all relative. You folks in Florida may hide inside on the treadmill if it gets below 60.

For me, there’s cold and then there’s really cold.  I don’t consider it ‘cold’ unless it falls below 40.  I tend to have 3 temperature bands of ‘cold’ that I scheme clothes for.

Mildly cold is anything above freezing – so in the 30-40 range.  Unless there’s a howling wind or freezing rain this is shorts weather.  Nothing to get any special gear on for.

Cold is in the 20-30 range and this is where I start wearing pants.  Really cold is single digits and below.  That’s what I need the cold weather running kit for.

The key to running in the cold is to keep your core warm.  If you can keep you core warm you can still function.  As it starts to fall into the really cold category you need to worry about extremities.  Fingers, noses, ears, toes, you know, all the pointy bits.

Let’s start at the top.  One of the best ways to keep your core warm is to keep your head warm.  You don’t need anything expensive or technical.  All you need is a good fuzzy winter hat.  Any run-of-the-mill, off the shelf, winter hat will do.  All these hats are made with synthetics and most will wick moisture.   You don’t need anything special.

The best way to get these is to have one of the little old ladies in your life knit them for you.  The second-best way is to live next to a ski area and pick them up by the side of the road as they fall off the roofs of cars.  The third best way is to go to any Goodwill or swap shop. You should probably wash them a couple times, because you don’t want head crabs, but if you’re paying more than $10 for a hat you are getting hosed.

If you get them too big they fall down over your eyes when they get wet and blocks of ice form.  IT’s can be annoying to run with a block of sweat-ice smacking you in the eyebrows.  The way to fix this is to wear a normal, baseball style, running hat under the oversized fuzzy hat.  That will give you the benefit of the oversized fuzzy hat and keep it out of your eyes.

Moving down to the neck area… You can also get a cheap balaclava the same way you got that hat, and those are great for sub-zero.  Failing that you can acquire a cheap winter scarf, in any of the above ways and it makes a great neck protector and an even better fashion statement.  You’ll keep your neck warm and look like a WWI flying ace out there.

Last but not least, before you open your wallet, you can cannibalize an oversized technical shirt or hat to make a neck gaiter.  Just cut the top off of that hat and it’s now a gaiter! There ya go.  Gaiters and scarves are useful for when the air gets too cold to breathe.  You can cover your mouth and breathe through the gaiter.

The winter running jacket is where people miss a stupendous opportunity to go cheap.  You can grab an off-the-shelf fleece hoodie for nickels and they wick like a champ.  These are always getting thrown away by people because companies hand them out as promotional items and such.  Technical fleece breathes and wicks just like your $300 race jacket.  If you can find one with a good hood and a zipper you can regulate the breathing surface area when you overheat.

The other key item I love for the cold, but not really cold, runs is a nice work vest.  You can find these as well, because, who wears a vest? Nobody.  They get them as gifts and chuck them at the first opportunity.  I have a Dickeys work vest that I got form a company I worked for and it is bullet proof.  It blocks the wind and has lots of pockets.  Keeps the core warm and conveniently carries stuff.  What more can you ask for.

Other than that, it’s all about the layering.  If you’ve run a winter race you have a long sleeve tech shirt or two.  Use those old race shirts as your base layers. They wick and will keep your core warm.  Eventually they smell so bad your best friends will shun you, but until then they’ll keep you warm.

I would recommend a good pair of winter tights or running pants.  You can run in old sweatpants but, from experience, that is not a good user experience.  I would also recommend technical undies because there are just some things that should not be allowed to get frost bite. You don’t have to break the bank but get something functional.

For gloves, believe it or not the gloves don’t know that they are not running gloves.  No kidding.  Any warm mittens or gloves that you pick up are going to be great to run in.  Just like the hats, you can get them basically for free.  I have a pair of thick wool mittens that I use for snow-blowing AND for when it gets really cold.

Plus, with a big pair of mittens you can slide hand warmers in or keep your cell phone in there to keep it from freezing to death.  Because, really, who wants to be out on a sub zero trail run without a medieval history podcast?

Do you need special shoes to run in the snow and ice?  Do you need special spikes and crampons?  No.  You can run in the snow and ice in your normal shoes.  Just run carefully. Maintain balance and have good form.  Flatten out the foot plant when you hit the icy bits and you’ll be fine.

When conditions get weird, I’ll switch to trail shoes because they tend to have better grip and a softer outsole.  When it gets really cold the foam in your shoes will freeze and get rock hard so if you have a softer pair of shoes, they may be more comfortable.

Do you need special socks to keep your toes warm?  No, not really.  What you can do, if your toes get cold is to cover the toes of your shoes with a couple strips of duct tape. That will keep the wind out.

Let’s review.

If you add up the price tags in that gear review article, you’ll be forking over a couple thousand bucks for the privilege of going outside for 3 months of the year.  If you find that comforting or empowering, then, go ahead.

If not, then you can still get outside, enjoy the crisp cold silence of a winter run for less than $100.

Gear doesn’t make you a better runner.

Your heart makes you a great runner.

Remember rule # 6.

Throw on that thermal underwear from your grand-dad’s bottom drawer and get your ass out there.