Personal trainer coach app programs can help you create a training plan for running specific distances at specific paces. An app cannot tell you how cold weather running can alter your running routine or what adjustments to your plan or gear need to be made to ensure safety during cold weather runs. Working with a sport specific running coach or private online fitness coach can help with personal trainer goals as they relate specifically to running. Cold weather running can have many different elements that can affect your training. Knowing what to expect can help you stay prepared so that you’ll have success all year long with your running and training. Below are some tips to help you through cold weather running:
- Remember to stay hydrated. Recent health and fitness articles remind us that staying hydrated is just as important in the winter as the summer. Staying hydrated while running in colder climates is challenging for many runners to remember. Just because they don’t feel hot or are not sweating excessively doesn’t mean that they are not losing electrolytes and fluids. Try to consume between twelve and fourteen ounces of fluid each hour at minimum to prevent dehydration.
- Set a timer to remind yourself to take a sip of water every five minute if temperatures are below freezing. Below freezing temperatures mean that your hydration pack and hydration bottles will most likely freeze as well. Not having access to fluids significantly increases your chance of succumbing to dehydration. Taking a sip every five minutes will be often enough to clear any ice crystal formations that may form in the mouth piece of your hydration pack or water bottles. Some outdoor brands have special sleeves for their water bottles that provide enough insulation to prevent the bottle from freezing.
- Don’t forget hat and gloves. We naturally lose our body heat the fastest through our extremities and exposed body parts. Wearing a hat and gloves can help the body regulate temperature better due to holding heat in close to our bodies. Gloves should be windproof to prevent chapping and also to prevent hypothermia. Cold winds can lower the outside temperatures quickly. Hats and gloves are one way you can be prepared for cold weather running.
- Don’t forget to incorporate functional fitness to prevent strain and injury to the body. A functional fitness day for recovery for many people can include workouts such as rower machines, yoga, elliptical – anything that is different from your normal training so that you get a break from training to heal and to strengthen underutilized muscles for better support, stamina, endurance, and speed.
These are just a few helpful tips that can help you continue your running and outdoor fitness training plans through the winter. Wearing layers to decrease sweat can help prevent hypothermia as well as wearing materials that are wool based. Wool based materials help maintain warmth and body heat even after they get wet. Stay fit and keep moving with cold weather running.
