My Experience Running In The Cold

Well, the cold weather hit just as expected and I got a day off work (actually 2 days if you count the day I'm getting tomorrow).  This worked out great for me because it allowed me the chance to run in the very cold weather, but at least during the daylight.  Now, I'm going to start by saying that I had access to a treadmill, and both my girlfriend and my mother told me I had better not run outside.  I almost took them up on that...

Fortunately (or unfortunately) I got it in my head that, since this was the coldest weather we've had in Louisville in 20 years, this may be the last chance I will have to run in this type of weather for 20 years.  While I can't say I've had a whole lot of incredible experiences in my life, I do my best to take advantage of anything that I think will turn into a good story later in life.  So the real reason I ended up running outside today was so I would be able to say that I ran in sub-0 temperatures.



The first thing I did was put a lot of thought into my wardrobe.  I mentioned in my last post how I ran in 20 degree weather with only dry-fit shirts on and paid the price.  I also mentioned the importance of a good wind breaking layer.  So today my wardrobe up top included two thick cotton shirts (one long sleeved, one short sleeved) and a light windbreaker over both of those.

I read a Facebook post from a friend in Bloomington about how he regretted only wearing one pair of tights for his morning run, so I decided to take his advice.  I wore a pair of thick underwear, a pair of tights, and a pair of looser running pants over those.  Fortunately for me, no wind got through those 3 layers.

I also wore two pairs of socks, two pairs of gloves, the thickest toboggan I had, and a scarf to keep cold air from creeping under my windbreaker.

When I went out the door, the temperature was either 0 or -1 (I will say -1 so I can say I ran in sub-0 temperatures).  The pictures above were taken right after my run.  One was my car's dashboard soon after, and the other is of my clothes after I finished running.

Anyway, the first thing I thought when I stepped out the door was, "this isn't nearly as bad as I thought."  I think the excessive amount of clothing I was wearing played a part in that.  Besides my face and my hands, I almost never felt the wind, and it was howling pretty strongly.  The wind chill was about -19 degrees when I was running, and I definitely felt it on my face when I ran straight into it.  I intentionally planned my run so the majority of running into the wind was in the first half.

Things I noticed while running were my nose running and my fingers slowly getting cold.  I mentioned in my last post the best bet in situations like this are mittens, mainly because your fingers are then together, sharing body heat which helps keep them warm.  The problem with 2 pairs of gloves is if the wind gets through at all, your fingers will get cold.  I was constantly trying to adjust my gloves to try to ball up my fists and block the wind, but in the end I just had to deal with cold fingers.

As for my nose, it was running almost immediately.  All I could do was wipe my nose with my gloves, but I had to make sure I never wiped with the same part of a glove twice because almost immediately what I wiped off my nose became frozen on the glove. It sounds gross, and it was, but it kept me aware of which part of my glove I wiped my nose with.

Pretty early on I decided to run 5 miles and call it a day, so when that happens the goal becomes to get it done with as quickly as possible.  I immediately settled into what I thought was a comfortable 6:40 mile pace.  The problem became that I normally need a mile to warm up, usually much slower, to get my body used to running.  Instead I threw myself straight into this pace, and it started to hurt about halfway through.  At that point, my nose was hurting and my  hands were still numb so I did my best to push through the fatigue.

Like I said earlier, almost the entire second half was with the wind at my back or side, but I had a few turns running straight into it.  Fortunately my fitness carried me through and I was able to finish my 5 miles in around 33:20.  My girlfriend told me I was an idiot, and even though I'm in my 30's, I will probably just not tell my mom, because she still worries.

But to be honest, running this afternoon was a much better idea because the day just got colder: