With the cold and winter season fully upon us - hopefully ending soon - this week I’m going to provide you with some quick tips on running in cold weather. I’ve compiled a small list of tips from my years of training, running and coaching.

1. Stay hydrated - Many runners don’t realize that in the cold weather it’s just as important as with hot weather to stay hydrated. In fact cold weather can actually increase your risk of dehydration, according to a study conducted by Robert Kenefick of the University of New Hampshire. Something I’ve done and seen work well for other runners is to carry some water with them through out the day and drink from that, whether it be to school or work during the summer or winter months.
2. Stay Warm - Wearing the proper amount of clothing is also important in cold weather runs. Usually 2 layers, a hat and gloves works well in cold or frigid weather. Also make sure you keep you’re self dry during your runs. Share your thought in our forum on What winter Running clothing do you use?
   
3. Warm Up, Cool Down, Stretch - Recently there has been a lot of debate between athletes, coaches and doctors as whether you should and how you should do a warm up, cool down or stretching. What I’ve found that’s work for me is doing a warm up, stretching very light and doing a cool down after the workout until I feel somewhat re-generated (when I feel like that it helps to indicate to me that the lactic acid build up in my muscles has been reduced). That is then followed with a more extensive stretching routine.
4. Don’t push it if your injured - I’ve always found having a day off or tapered down due to an injury or when you’re starting to develop one is 10 times better then having an injury that lasts a month or more. This is specially true in the colder weather as it’s much easier to get injured. Staying injury free is one of the key steps to running competitively and staying fit. This starts with making sure you listen to your body.
5. Plan your workouts for the week - I’ve found it’s much easier to stick with it when you have a schedule or plan for what your going to do for that week. Specially if you have a specific goal your reaching for, you should plan out how you’re going to get there. Use our running log as a tool, with our running log you can record a preset schedule of your workouts for the week or longer.

Well those are some quick tips for running in the cold and winter weather. If you have any suggestions or things you’ve found that worked well for you, let us know by posting your comments.