Winter Running

Boston Marathon training means that you have to log most of your miles during the cold winter months. The last couple of years the winter has been pretty kind to us here in NJ, USA. With only a few days were the temperature has been dropping really low and way below ZERO (thank God). Wind, snow, sun and rain are all big factors when you decide what to wear for the day. I have to admit that I have big issues finding the right clothes for my runs. I'm a big sweater so generally winter running fits me much better then the hot humid summer days, but if you get your clothes wrong during your winter running, even a easy run might feel hard as you will sweat a  lot under your layers, this is my biggest issue. I like the cold weather for running but I'm also a big wimp and a "freezing onion" (Swedish saying fryslök), so I tend to over dress a lot. When you get to warm, in most of the cases its to late to get undressed as you have already started to sweat and therefor your clothes are wet. Many of the weather sites has the "true feeling temp" feature, a good tool to help you to adjust your clothing for the day. My problem might also be a northern USA east coast phenomena, I understand that other states like Minnesota and Maine (also Northern east coast but way up there...) are very cold and it might be easy to adjust clothing's before the run as it is very cold and stays that way. In NJ the temperatures varies a lot and it gets harder to adjust, just a thought.........

Clothes

The base layers is my corner stone when it comes to get the clothing right, a great base layer will keep you warm and dry. For base layer I have always put my trust in the CRAFT of Sweden, outstanding base layers. I got my first CRAFT (or stole it from my dad :) )1986 and its still going strong. Lately I have been trying a base layer from Mizunos breath thermo line with big succes. CRAFT and Mizuno layers are equal but if I have to choose its CRAFT.....As stated above i still use a CRAFT from 1986 (the traditional dark blue one) and of course I'm Swedish so that might have a small impact ;) but Mizuno does a pretty damn good job here.

Last year I invested in wind protected under wear and damn what a difference it makes. The vital parts....well you don't wont to get them cold and this made the difference for me. One of the best investments I have ever done.....I have been having good luck with Asics Men's ASX Boxer.

When it comes to socks, I go with wool all the way. I hate to have cold toes and I freeze easily. Lot of runners talk about Gore Tex shoes or what ever the different shoe companies calls there material they use for weather protection. For me wool socks is the way to go. Smartwool and lately Darn Tough has been keeping my feet warm during extreme cold weather.

My hair and head gets really wet from sweat so a good wind protected that can breath hat is to recommend. All brands has them. Gore running has been working decent during the mild winter weather. For extreme cold weather I add a headband under or/and ear mufflers......

Enjoy your winter running, stay warm and dry!