January 2018 Running Challenge

I posted this in the winter running thread in our group forum but thought there might be some interest here as well, what with all the talk about winter running.

Wind makes a HUGE difference in the winter. 0°F can be quite pleasant or miserable during a run depending on the wind, and the wind also complicates your choice of clothing.

Let's say it's 0°F with no wind. With no wind, Wind chill = Air Temp = 0°F . But guess what, your running is effectively causing wind. Let's say that you're running a 10 minute mile, or 6 miles per hour. That 6mph now makes it feel like -12°F. The key point though, is that the effective wind chill is going to be the same no matter which direction you run, so once you figure out your layers for that temp, your set.

What if the wind is blowing 10mph? 0°F and 10mph wind results in a wind chill of -16°F

If I'm running with the wind then the effective wind speed is 10mph - 6 mph = 4 mph, which is a wind chill of -9°F. Not only that, but that wind is at my back and it's easy to fully cover up your back.

Ok, we've reached the end of our route and need to run back INTO the wind. What does that do to wind chill? 10mph + 6mph = 16mph, which gives us an effective wind chill of -20°F! Not only that but the wind is now blowing in our face, which is hard (but not impossible) to completely cover. We have zippers on the front which are a source of heat loss. We have our hands in front of our bodies so they get affected by the wind more. We also get that wind hitting the front of our shoes which is where the mesh is, and the mesh is designed to provide ventilation.

Running 10 minute miles varies the effect of the wind by 11F° and put the harshest wind right in our faces.

Heat regulation, therefore, is key in the winter. Zippers can be opened when running with the wind and closed when running against the wind. I'll even taken an outer wind layer off when going with the wind and put it back on when I need to.

Bring a heavier hat to wear against the wind. The golf mitts I talked about on the challenge thread are fantastic for regulating hand temperature. Buffs can be easily taken on and off (and rotated when the front freezes up in front of your mouth).

One final point is that when you can't easily regulate temperature and you dress for running against the wind, you may be generating a lot of sweat going with the wind. Now on the turn around you could be in a world of hurt with sweaty gloves or a sweaty hat. Because of that I'll carry extra gloves and a hat if it's going to windy. More than a few times I've been very glad to be able to switch into a dry hat while winter running.

Here's the wind chill calculator I used:
https://www.weather.gov/epz/wxcalc_windchill

I had to take my mom for cataract surgery this morning so I had the perfect excuse not to meet my running group for an arctic blast run! Instead, I got 5 miles in on the dreadmill.

Thanks for the reminder about duct tape on shoes. I have heard of that before but forgotten about it. I bought some at the store today. The roll of gray that looks like tire tread won out over the boring plain gray or black. It was 45 cents more, but hey - life's short!

Happy new year everyone! May 2018 be a great, injury-free and successful running year for all of us!!

My goal for this month will be 160km.
... and a secondary goal: trying to keep up with this thread! I can't believe I'm already nearly 20 pages behind on January 3rd
I skimmed everything, and now it's too late to reply to anything in particular. Funny how different everyone's running route posters look. Here are all my runs from 2017:



Not sure about special running goals for 2018...
My short-term goal is learning to ski right now I signed up for 5x2 hours of group lessons. Yesterday was the first one, and I surprised myself by *not* being the absolute worst student in the class! I went for a short run afterwards to burn off the the "Eeek, I'm sliding down a mountain, how do I stop again"-adrenaline. ^^

Today I wanted to run before the ski lesson. The weather outside didn't look very motivating (wind and rain), it turned out to be even worse in reality once I got outside. Freakishly warm (the temperature jumped up to 12°C/54°F, but not only wind, but really stormy - sometimes I felt like I was working hard and still not moving forward at all! When I got home, I checked the ski resort's webpage and found that they are closed due to the "violent storm". So no skiing lesson today. Guess that means I won't have an excuse for skipping my "strength for runners" workout tonight. Considering that "do 15min of strength training at least 3 days a week" was one of my resolutions for 2018, that's probably a good thing...