All of this week I will be sharing some tips on Winter Running Apparel, with some strategies on how to keep yourself warm, safe and comfortable in cold and dark running conditions. Today is the 4th of 6 videos, with strategies on how to keep your legs warm.
Hello. This is Blaine Moore from RunToWin.com and I’m going to show you a few things about winter running apparel so that you can go out and be prepared for the colder weather as it comes in.
Your Legs
For your legs, depending upon how cold it is you can go with just shorts. The next step up from shorts is you might want to put some running pants on. So these are some good pants for running in, made by Sport Hill, they are very comfortable, they don’t rub up against each other too much when you’re running. One thing you might want to avoid is wearing cotton sweat pants because they’ll get heavy and they’ll get wet.
And some Ski pants or warm up pants are good for if you are at a track meet, and you want to go out and get a quick warm up there, you want to stay warm between your events, something like these that are lined are really good. But when you are going out for a long run, they just really get heavy and they rub up against each other and they can cause chafing. (And it makes a really annoying noise when you run.)
For the really cold days you can wear tights, which will give you more of a compression effect. And they’ll also keep your legs a little bit warmer. Underneath of the tights you can either wear briefs or running shorts, or if it’s not super windy out then you could just go with just the tights.
If it is really cold out, you can wear regular shorts over the tights just to give you another layer of protection. Or you can wear something like the tights underneath the pants. Or even put some tights on that will only go to your knee or down to your calf as that base layer and those work out pretty well for keeping the wind away from the sensitive areas.
All of this week I will be sharing some tips on Winter Running Apparel, with some strategies on how to keep yourself warm, safe and comfortable in cold and dark running conditions. Today is the 3rd of 6 videos, with strategies on how to keep your torso warm.
Hello. This is Blaine Moore from RunToWin.com and I’m going to show you a few things about winter running apparel so that you can go out and be prepared for the colder weather as it comes in.
Your Torso
For your torso, it’s all about layering up. On the outside you want to have some kind of a windbreaker, whether it’s a full zip or some kind of a half zip that only goes down to your chest. The nice thing about the half zip’s and the full zip shirts are that you can regulate heat really well. On the colder days when you first get out running and you haven’t warmed up yet, you can zip up all the way to protect your neck, not so much for this jacket, but you get it over your face or sometimes your nose as you are running and once you warm up you can let some of the heat out just by unzipping it.
Underneath of that you are going to want to wear at least one if not two shirts. I like to have a long sleeve and then a short sleeve underneath. This is good for as you warm up, you can strip off a layer, you can take your jacket off or you can take one of these layers off from underneath or push your sleeves up.
I recommend against wearing cotton, and wearing more technical fabrics instead. And the reason for that is when you are running and you sweat, (even when it’s cold you are still going to sweat,) if you are wearing a cotton shirt and it gets wet, then the water is just going to pool up on that spot, and it’s going to get heavy and it’s going to get cold and it’s going to freeze. Whereas if you are wearing a technical shirt and you get water on it, the water is just going to wick from your skin out and then once it gets on to the shirt it’s going to spread out along the fabric. So it’s not all concentrated on one spot so you wont get as cold. And if you have a good shirt, like this one, it will bead up and it will just run right off of the shirt and it will barely get wet as you can see. Most of it has wound up on the ground.
Another option for the torso is, for just keeping your torso warm, you can wear some kind of a vest as a base layer or as an outer layer. That’s good for protecting you from the wind and those kind of situations.
All of this week I will be sharing some tips on Winter Running Apparel, with some strategies on how to keep yourself warm, safe and comfortable in cold and dark running conditions. Today is the 2nd of 6 videos, with strategies on how to keep your hands warm.
Hello. This is Blaine Moore from RunToWin.com and I’m going to show you a few things about winter running apparel so that you can go out and be prepared for the colder weather as it comes in.
Your Hands
When you get to your hands, they also are going to get really cold. A lot of times, one pair of gloves is usually going to be enough, but if it’s really cold you might want to wear a second pair of gloves. These gloves here you’ll notice are half mittens, they keep the fingers near each other so that they are a little warmer. And on the cold days, what I’ll do is I’ll actually wear these on the outside and then I have a pair of smaller gloves on the inside. Then I can just either carry these gloves once I’m warmed up or I can put it into a pocket or throw it on the side of the road to pick up later.
Is there a better way to celebrate the New Year than by heading out for a run? Whether you motivate yourself with resolutions or not, getting out and pounding the pavement or trails or ice is a great way to start the year; I find it difficult to think of anything better.
Last year, I took part in the Resolution Run from the Maine Running Company. I’ll be in the wrong part of the country this year, but if you are going to be in the Southern Maine area than this is an ideal place to get your workout in.
The Resolution Run starts at Maine Running Company and ends at the Great Lost Bear, which is a few hundred feet across the street. There will be people there that are doing 5 kilometers, and people running 10 kilometers. There may even be a few people running further than that, and there will definitely be people that limit their running to the couple of hundred feet to get from the store to the bar! Note that this is not a race; it is a group run so there is no pressure.
The run starts at 11:30, and the first 30 or so people to arrive will get a free technical shirt. There is no cost to take part in the run, although any donations will be part of the Extremities Drive to help underprivileged Maine children get hats and gloves to keep them warm this Winter. If you have any old hats or gloves that you don’t need anymore, feel free to drop them off at the store or bring them along with you to the Resolution Run.
After the run, more shirts and other prizes will be raffled off at the Great Lost Bear. I remember winning a pair of gloves or something like that last year, but I traded them for somebody’s rice that they weren’t going to eat!
If you do take part in the Resolution Run and want to write about it, shoot me an email and I’ll put a post together about it next week. It was a lot of fun last year.
(Don’t worry about me finding somewhere to run for the New Year – I’ll be in Vegas, and will be taking part in a Las Vegas Hash with my wife and some friends!)
I heard rumors last week that the USATF had changed their stance on headphones, and they have finally published some confirmation.
Headphones will still not be allowed in championship racing, but personal audio devices may be used at race director discretion as long as they do not allow communication. So iPods will be okay for most runners, but cell phones will still be banned.
The amendment is to Rule 144.3, and now reads as follows:
“(f) The visible possession or use by athletes of video, audio, or communications devices in the competition area. The Games Committee for an LDR event may allow the use of portable listening devices not capable of receiving communication; however, those competing in Championships for awards, medals, or prize money may not use such devices.”
Be sure to check with your individual race directors about whether iPods and other devices are allowed in their races, but there is no longer a blanket rule that they are expected to enforce on the matter. I know that this will make quite a few people happy.
All of this week I will be sharing some tips on Winter Running Apparel, with some strategies on how to keep yourself warm, safe and comfortable in cold and dark running conditions. Today is the 1st of 6 videos, with strategies on how to keep your head warm. (Update: And by this week, I mean next week (December 29 – January 2). I published this on the wrong day! Sorry about that. Here’s a preview of what’s coming starting the week after Christmas.)
Hello. This is Blaine Moore from RunToWin.com and I’m going to show you a few things about winter running apparel so that you can go out and be prepared for the colder weather as it comes in.
Your Head
The first thing that I’m going to get into is what to wear on your head. Your head is a great place for you to lose a lot of heat. So in warmer conditions you don’t want to wear too much. And in cooler conditions it’s really important to keep your head warm. The easiest thing to wear is to just have a ski cap, and something that wicks is optimum. If you start to get too warm, you can always flip the edges up and then that will let off little bit of heat by your ears and cool you off pretty well.
If it isn’t all that cold out there, you go either bare headed or with just a normal running hat. That will keep the sun out of your eyes. Another option is to wear a head band which will keep your ears warm while still letting a little bit of heat escape through the top of your head.
And for those really cold days you can wear a balaclava, which will cover not just your head but also your neck and, depending on how big it is, your shoulders. The nice thing about having a balaclava is that you can wear it over the back of your jacket and if it’s snowing it will keep the snow from getting down your shirt. And you can also cover over your face and keep your face warm that way. (At least until you warm up.)
And just as if you are walking you can always carry a scarf around which is useful for keeping your neck warm or you can also wrap that around your head as well.
If you have some, it’s good to wear sunglasses as well. Not only will they protect you from the sun, but if it’s windy out it will keep your eyes from drying out or freezing shut. So I like to wear in the Winter time some big sun glasses that cover lot of my face.
Have you ever received a run as a birthday present? Michael Chambers has. For his 40th birthday this year, his wife arranged for Richard Kiplagat to go for an 8 mile run with him.
Kiplagat splits his time between Marakwet, Kenya and New Milford, N.J. He is a 10-time all American from Iona, and has become one of the most competitive road racers in the world since graduating in 2006.
The pair ran 8 miles in about 7 minute pace, with Kiplagat pushing Chambers just enough to see how fast he could go. Chambers’ most recent marathon was a 4:08 earlier this year in New York City. After the run, the pair had lunch with Chambers’ family and posed for some pictures.
In February, Chambers and his wife will be flying to Kenya to spend some time at the training center in Iten, Kenya, which is run by Lornah Kiplagat, Richard’s older sister. Getting Richard to come visit for a run was just a bonus gift for the actual day of Chambers’ birthday.
I heard rumors last week that the USATF had changed their stance on headphones, and they have finally published some confirmation.
