Fear and Loathing of Winter Running

Part 1

When winter winds whip and the days shorten, getting out the front door for a run becomes an exercise in your superpower will-power. One missed workout because of inclement weather can lead to two, which leads to three, and before you know it, you’re sitting on your couch watching infomercials with potato chip crumbs stuck to your face and shirt.

Luckily, there are positive thoughts to move you past that sometimes impassable place we call the front door.

Rough Weather, Tough Athlete

There wasn’t a day last winter (that my selective memory can recollect) when 15 mile per hour winds didn’t blow along Chicago’s lakefront. To worsen matters, the day darkened by 4 p.m. and the temps were hardly above 25 degrees Fahrenheit. And if it wasn’t raining or snowing, ice and snow covered the ground, making for some treacherous terrain. When you add in five lbs. of near scuba-like winter running couture, it’s any wonder there wasn’t a permanent indentation on my couch. When I tell my future kids about how I trained for the Boston Marathon last winter, they’ll think I lived in Antarctica. They’ll also realize, as I hope you will: winter training makes you tough. 

Overcoming these winter pitfalls will take a lot more effort both physically and psychologically. Running against the wind is like running hills. Running with more clothing is like running with a weight belt on. Running on snow and ice is the slightly easier version of running on sand. Your leg muscles will be as tight as piano strings in the cold. It takes more energy to power through these winter elements, giving your workout (tempo, speed or endurance) an anaerobic edge.

When warm weather returns, running will never be easier because winter running has trained you to overcome the worst of running obstacles - the obvious physical ones and the mental anguish you’ll have endured.

Set Goals and Dates

A great financier once said that humans are motivated by two things in life: greed and fear. The latter is especially true when it comes to running. Which is why setting goals and running dates with friends is a commonly recommended technique by running pundits to motivate runners during winter training. And I can’t say I don’t agree. If you put a race of any distance on the calendar, especially a spring marathon, you’re more likely to stick with winter training despite the elements—mostly out of the fear of embarrassing yourself with a less-than-stellar time in the next race. Same holds true for setting running dates. If you set a running date with a friend, you’re less likely to skip a run for fear of letting that person down.

A Superiority Complex

Every time you hesitate to get out the door remember that there is another runner in nearly every cold-weather mud room or foyer across this great land who is thinking the same sordid thought about facing the winter elements: “I DON’T WANNA GO OUTSIDE!”

If you can brave the elements while other runners take the winter off, you become a part of an exclusive institution: The “Better Than Everyone Else” Running Club. Take joy and solace and gain motivation by knowing you’re a part of the exclusive group of REAL runners who have direct debited their dues to old man winter. The path will be nearly desolate and virtually your own with these select few. There will be lots of room to maneuver and lots of time to reflect on how superior you really are. You’ll nod at the other club-members when you cross paths, and your running cup will overfloweth with pride and ego caused by this gesture of monumental dedication.  It’s grand to think about how much more fit and determined you are than the sad-sacks that stayed home with their empty chip bags in hand.

...to be continued...

Kevin Granato is a running coach for Granato Racing, a 2:44:00 marathoner and freelance writer. Feel free to email him at CoachGranato@TheRunningInstitute.com.