Hi there lovely people!
A few of you asked me about running in cold weather…
…So here it is, my top 3 tips for running during winter 🥶 ❄️
1. Warm Up before you go out!
Sounds obvious right? People usually forget about proper warming up. In the following video, I summarize the methods I like to use to have a safe and enjoyable run that doesn’t end with hurting knees or other body parts.
Rubbing and scrubbing the foot/ankle, knee and hip complex is the first step.
Second step is Mobilizing the Hip in every angles possible (3 exercises for that)
And finally having the Foot and Ankle complex stabilized in single leg balance. Guess what, running involves balancing on one leg at a time 😉
2. Choose your clothes wisely!
If you warm up at home, you already increase your body temperature pretty much, and it’s easier to choose clothes in my opinion.
Make sure you don’t have too many layers on, because you don’t want to feel too warm during your run. One of the worst things that can happen that you’re sweating too much and you feel the urge to take off extra layers.
I like to start my run with a layer that feels a bit chilly in the beginning. Your temperature will increase pretty quickly.
Wear clothes for most layers that are not synthetic (polyester, plastic). I know that the big brands (Nike, Adidas, Under Armour etc.) don’t do natural fabric products, or at least very rarely unfortunately. These fabrics don’t let your body breathe properly, even though they claim it. In any case I would choose if possible organic cotton, linen, hemp or wool.
For jacket I don’t mind if it’s synthetic, the goal is that you should be visible in the dark.
3. Breathe through your NOSE!
The most important tip is breathing through your nose. Running or walking in cold weather has an extra stress for your respiratory system. All of the cold viruses (like COVID for example) are looking for your immune system to decrease its function.
The best way not to let this happen is by breathing through your nose. Your nose has the ability to heat up the cold air to almost body temperature in less than a second. With mouth breathing it is impossible. The little hair in your nose also filters the air on the way down to your lungs. It makes a safe and sustainable breathing form in cold weather too.
Nose breathing will not allow for you to go too fast, which is not a big deal in my opinion if you run for fun. It helps you to increase your aerobic capacity (using oxygen) while you don’t force yourself too much.
If you force yourself, you go into mouth breathing naturally (anaerobic threshold – you are lacking of oxygen). The only problem with this, that your immune system depletes itself, because your body needs its resources to fuel your muscles and your circulatory system, so it decreases the immune function. You are more susceptible for invading organisms to attack you in the next couple of hours after vigorous exercise.
So here it is, hopefully it helps you with your experience outside in the cold. I encourage all of you to go out every day at least for an hour and do some sort of light activity. 🙏