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Winter Running Guide

Snowhounds from across Canada share their insights on making the most of cold-weather running.

In February 2007 my running buddy James innocently suggested we do a loop I’d never done before. It was night-time, the temperature had settled at around minus-20-something and we’d already dropped the Wednesday-night 10K group we were supposed to run with. After an hour, I realized I was in for more of a run than I’d anticipated. 

It had recently snowed heavily in Saint John and soon we were slogging through drifts up to our thighs. By the time we hit Rothesay Avenue, we were alternately hurdling the berms of snow left over from ploughed-out driveways and running perilously close to traffic on the icy gutters of the road. My eyelashes had frozen long ago and clumps of ice stuck to my beard and moustache. I looked like Robert Peary fresh from discovering the North Pole. We ran 18K that chilly, dark night.

Welcome to winter running in Canada. It doesn’t have to be that extreme – or stupid, for that matter. In fact, cold weather running is often exhilarating. It’s also a great way to get outdoors with your friends, get some fresh air, experience the season and recharge your love of the sport. 

“It’s a joy,” says Lore-ann Krysko, a government worker from Yellowknife, NWT. “Just get out and do it – it sure beats treadmills.” Krysko knows a thing or two about running in the cold. In 2007, she raced in the 75K Coldfoot Classic at the Rock and Ice Ultra. Not a single runner on foot (some use skis and snowshoes) managed to complete the race before the cut-off of 50K by nine-and-a-half hours. But despite temperatures hovering in the low -30s, it wasn’t the cold that slowed the competitors; it was the foot of fresh snow on the open lake trail section.

Cold isn’t as big a factor as you’d think if you’ve never run outdoors in the winter. It’s easy to layer clothing to ward off chills. Krysko advises keeping your head covered, wearing a neck-warmer (which she swears by, because you can rotate it during the run and always have a dry clean spot) and a couple of pairs of gloves. 

There’s one other thing Krysko says new runners should bring: “The first thing they need is a positive attitude,” she says. “Getting out the door is absolutely the most difficult part, but once you’re out, like any run, five minutes of warmup and you’re not cold while you’re running.”

Gord Hobbins, owner of Gord’s Running Shop in Calgary, says all-season running in the prairie city has boomed since city council allocated funding to clear the bike paths. The city first began ploughing about 16K of pathway, but with the growing number of cyclists commuting, they expanded their program. Now runners have access year-round to roughly 80K of cleared running routes.

Hobbins says for a run of 45 minutes or less, just wear whatever you think is necessary. “You’re not going to get yourself in terrible trouble in less than 45 minutes of exposure,” he says. If you plan to run longer, then dress accordingly. The first layer should be some form of synthetic designed to wick moisture and keep you dry. Hobbins explains that the synthetics tend to have hollow fibres and work like insulation in the walls of a home. The thicker the insulating factor, the more warmth it’s going to provide. The drawback is that thicker synthetics are also bulkier.

His quick rule of thumb is from zero to -5 or -10 you can wear a synthetic layer. To -15 or -20, you might want to add some form of a shell on top, such as a nylon windbreaker. Below -20, add yet another layer. Of course, Calgary’s cold is dry. In the wetter cold of Atlantic Canada, runners may need to add extra layers.  

In Saint John, N.B., local running guru Alex Coffin recommends running in shoes with an aggressive tread, such as trail runners. Coffin, a sub-three-hour marathoner who runs the Marathon Canada website and owns two shoe stores, isn’t a big fan of slip-on cleat systems when it comes to preventing slippage on black ice, though some runners swear by them. Coffin points out that while you may be on snow and ice for part of a run, if you hit dry pavement the cleats can become uncomfortable. He also avoids shoes with too much of a smooth road tread over winter and those with gaps in the tread that might fill up with snow. 

When it comes to training for spring marathons, Coffin says winter running can be a disadvantage. He won’t do 35K runs, instead keeping his long-run distance down at 23K. “Just in winter, there’s a little bit more risk of injury with slippage,” Coffin says. “And you’re working harder too. You’re not in shorts and a singlet. You’ve probably got three layers up top. You’ve got heavy pants on a lot of the time. I think you have to take that into consideration.”

Coffin suggests doing speed work indoors and says if a track isn’t nearby to stick with hill training instead until early spring. Still, he says he’s always twice as prepared for his fall marathons as for those in the spring. “I’m kind of jealous of the runners from Florida, or wherever, at Boston, for sure.” 

Back in Yellowknife, Krysko says on longer runs she’ll carry a water bottle and tuck it under her clothes to keep it warm. She’s given up trying to run with a MP3 player because of battery problems in the cold weather. “I don’t like treadmills,” Krysko says. “I like the fact I’m outside. We spend so much time indoors in the winter that any break outside in the fresh air is certainly welcome.”

That goes even for an 18K jaunt with my friend James in the cold, dark Saint John night.

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