Winter running - what? how? why?

Winter Running - What? How? Why?
By ArcticDuplo


nwp13_wall_002.jpg


Well winter has taken a very firm grip in Greenland and aside from the insanely high amount of travel that I have to endure this season. Trips planned to the UK, Netherlands, France, Germany, US, Singapore and UAE before April next year, then whenever I am home (in greenland) the picture above is what early winter running looks like for me.

I tend to look at winter running as a different sport almost, Barefoot running is normally out fairly early on as they cover the streets and sidewalks in crunched rock to allow all the shod people some traction, but it really is a very nasty experience to run on crushed rock (it is some pretty sharp and pointy stuff).
Roads quickly get covered in thick layers of ice and compressed snow (mixed with afore mentioned crushed rocks), trackion is never perfect and the world "slippery" comes to mind.
I temd to sneak into a pair of seeyas and use it as an opportunity to work on my running technique (or form or whatever) if you can run up a steep icy hill without spikes it is going to take some work on your technique, same goes for downhill runs :)
Off trial I tend to favour the nordic (or is it cross country?) skiing trails, I run on the compacted part used for Skate skiing on good days you only dig in from from 2-10CM making it nearly runnable and a great quad workout. on bad days or on the snowmobile trail you will sink in anywhere from 2-30cm and have a serious quad workout. my choice of shoes for this is the spyridon and it is excellent for this kind of running.
Keep your ears and eyes open though, you do not want to be in the way of a snowmobile or nordic skiier going downhill.
Short hours of daylight means plenty of these runs are wearing a headlamp to increase the fun and temperatures are often in the -15C to -25C range.
This also means that I don't really focus on race pace or pace at all. I tend to focus on the outdoor experience, on having fun and experience the varied challenges and different running conditions the winter landscape has to offer.

On my travels to warmer climates the shoes are the first thing to get kicked off when running though :)

What is your winter running strategy? what do you do and how do you approach it?
Anyone doing backcountry snowshoe running? something completely different?
Would be amazing to get some inspiration and ideas :)
 
Barefoot runner, climber, mountaineer, hiker, photographer and in love with being outdoors :)
View all 1 featured items
As you can see from my avatar picture, I do some barefoot running in snow. That photo was taken after about 20 minutes of running in approx. 20F temperatures (Approx. -7C)
However, reading the descriptions of your runs and looking at your awsome photographs, I would not presume to give you any advice on cold-weather running. I am in awe of your running experiences. :jaw drop: :coldfeet:
But just for information purposes - I generally run strictly barefoot, and I am fine on dry pavement or trails down to approx. 20F (-7C) (not counting wind chill). On packed snow or ice, an air temp. of approx. 30f (-1C) is about my limit. My only strategy is to spend as much time as possible barefoot outside in cold weather to get my feet acclimated - walking, running, shovelling snow, etc.
 
I did some barefoot running in snow a while back, often running 2 to 3 times a week for distances of 3 - 6 miles for each run. I came up with several guidelines for myself.

Avoid deep drifting snow.
Avoid temps below 28 F.
Watch out for snow that has been rained on. It has a thin crust, and when your feet break through, the edges of the ice can hurt your ankles.
Try to find paths that are well traveled, with well packed snow.
Carry a thick pair of socks in your pocket for just in case.
Wear a hat a gloves to compensate for heat loss through your feet.

The first 5 minutes were always the worst, but, by the end of my runs, my feet would be hot and I could walk comfortably barefoot for several minutes. I often used lotion, Vaseline, Warm Skin, or some other thing like those to keep the soles of my feet more supple. It could have just been my imagination, but supple, moisturized skin seems to be more resistant to cold temps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ArcticDuplo
Amazing picture, Thomas -- and amazing running. Minus 25? I quite sure my lungs wouldn't be able to be outside in -25, and I am positive that I wouldn't be able to train. But it must a wonderful experience out there in the Greenlandic wilderness.

As for me, in Denmark, well, you know the weather here, I suppose: just above freezing most of the winter. I always want to run barefoot, and a couple of degrees below zero hasn't been a problem. (They love their salt here, though.) Have a pair of vivos and a pair of VFF in the closet, but prefer not to use them at all. (A pair of xeroshoes on its way as well.)

And why? It feels great. Ran today in 3-4 degrees, and it felt wonderful, fresh air (not compared to Greenland, but compared to Prague, where I used to live), rain dripping from my eyebrows, tingling in my feet as I navigate along the lakes. Its even better to run barefoot in 5 degrees than in 25, in some ways -- at least the feeling when you come back home is even more elated.

But in -25... Probably not.
 
Copied to home page, but, of course.
 
Seems to be just walking for me this winter...

Last winter I run mostly on roads and snow mobile trails, skiers don't like seeing runners ruining their trails, although barefoot style running doesn't do much to hard packed snow. But if other and especially shod runners would run there it would ruin skiing trail... Only exception I make, is skiing trail made on sea ice, as it is not "official" skiing trail, I think it's pretty ok to run there. And it's quite different, nice atmosphere runnning there, just white and flat. With fog it's just white on every direction, including up and down. ;) I used vff bikila ls and komodosport ls, latter is windproof and bit warmer. Otherwise snow mobile trails, depending on how sinking the trail is.

Not much long distance runs, water bottles freeze and vffs get wet and become too cold. Mostly less than 20 km.
 
Like a friend of mine says, winter turns us into astronauts on an alien planet (although Greenland looks a good deal more inhospitable than the Midwest). You have to embrace the spirit of adventure, and all mental obstacles disappear. The only drawback, of course, is having to put on shoes. I really hate it, and just got a little frost nip yesterday trying to fight it, by running on wet, slushy pavement at -9C.

I think I'm like a lot of people at BRS with a decent tolerance for cold. I can barefoot it down to about -10C air temp on dry surfaces, but need to stay close to freezing in moist or slushy conditions. For shoes, I like Merrell Vapor trails for dry conditions, the Vivo Neos for compacted snow, and the Vivo Neo Trails for fresh or loose snow. With shoes and a good pair of wool socks, I can run comfortably on the coldest days, down to -30 to -35C. For clothes I run completely in Icebreaker Merino wool products--cap, balaclava, gloves, mittens, base layer, top, jacket, long underwear, and pants. They keep me dry and warm and best of all, they don't stink like synthetic stuff.

Also, I have a surface thermometer, and have found that, holding air temp constant, surfaces are significantly warmer at the end of the afternoon, especially if they've been exposed to sun.

So my winter barefoot strategy, discovered last year, is to drive up to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds and run back and forth on this one-mile-long street that gets a good dose of sun, is plowed regularly, and isn't salted. Plus it's up high, with good drainage, so the street reverts to dry pavement after a snowfall before anywhere else. It's kind of boring, running back and forth along the same, nearly desolate street, but it allows me to run barefoot about half the time throughout the winter.

Like you mentioned, running in fresh snow is a good quad workout. This year I'm also experimenting with running fartleks most of the time, to increase the workout-like quality of the run. A lot of people use winter as a time to build up their aerobic base, but for me, the logic seems to be just the opposite. Since my back-n-forths on the fairgrounds street are kind of tedious, I prefer intensity to distance, and keep the runs to an hour or less. Then in the spring I'll go back to my lovely longrun routes along the river or out to nearby lakes and back, hopefully with some improvement in pace after a winter's worth of fartleks.
 
I don't run... I hike which interestingly causes a different set of challenges. When running you generate a lot of heat which is useful at lower temperatures. Hiking is less aerobic so acclimatisation is key. I always wear minimal clothing all winter. My body becomes warmer as a result, however I still can't manage the distance you runners can. Once the temp gets below about 20f my hikes are severely curtailed unless I wear some minimalist shoes.

Since I much prefer natural I tend to only walk about 6 - 8 miles a day unless there is an event. As for snow, we are snow lite in the uk but I have a pair of boot tops (I cut the soles off and have sewn a tie string around them) which I wear as I find snow on top of my feet is harder to deal with than snow on my soles.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ArcticDuplo
I made a challenge to myself to run at least one mile every day between Thanksgiving (28 November) and New Year's Day. The second day of my challenge, we got 14 inches of snow and the temperatures have barely been above 20F. I've managed to run everyday (although sometimes just over the bare minimum mileage for my challenge!). I haven't done any barefooted yet, and I'm not sure I'd want to just because of the jagged crusty ice everywhere. But I have mostly run in my VFFs with Smartwool toe socks, and I've discovered that that combination is great on snow and ice, and is very comfortable even down to 5-10F.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ArcticDuplo
Great thread all.
Im also doing the Holiday Streak. Its my first attempt at this. 3 weeks and still alive. Mostly Ive been running in sneakers. I did get 1 run in day after Thanksgiving BF on rubberized track. Felt like it had tons of ice and irregularities in the surface. Then I walked around in grass covered in frost and realized just how relatively warm the track was. I did one more minimalist run in these neoprene socks called NUFOOT. After 3 weeks, and a long run of 6 miles in 20 degrees, they wore out. I like running on a TM when weather is bad. I really like it. But, getting myself outside, its usually better than I think it will be.

Soft new snow. I keep wanting to run in this. It seems like it would be fun. I didnt the other day, because I started thinking of it melting. Wet and cold are hard to run in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ArcticDuplo
As you can see from my avatar picture, I do some barefoot running in snow. That photo was taken after about 20 minutes of running in approx. 20F temperatures (Approx. -7C)
However, reading the descriptions of your runs and looking at your awsome photographs, I would not presume to give you any advice on cold-weather running. I am in awe of your running experiences. :jaw drop: :coldfeet:
But just for information purposes - I generally run strictly barefoot, and I am fine on dry pavement or trails down to approx. 20F (-7C) (not counting wind chill). On packed snow or ice, an air temp. of approx. 30f (-1C) is about my limit. My only strategy is to spend as much time as possible barefoot outside in cold weather to get my feet acclimated - walking, running, shovelling snow, etc.
Thanks for commenting and inspiring me on the barefoot snow stuff.
I managed to sneak in a few runs around -5C and -7C before they covered everything in crushed rock and it is doable, I have considered trying it on the nordic skiing trail though... food for thought here :)
 
I did some barefoot running in snow a while back, often running 2 to 3 times a week for distances of 3 - 6 miles for each run. I came up with several guidelines for myself.

Avoid deep drifting snow.
Avoid temps below 28 F.
Watch out for snow that has been rained on. It has a thin crust, and when your feet break through, the edges of the ice can hurt your ankles.
Try to find paths that are well traveled, with well packed snow.
Carry a thick pair of socks in your pocket for just in case.
Wear a hat a gloves to compensate for heat loss through your feet.

The first 5 minutes were always the worst, but, by the end of my runs, my feet would be hot and I could walk comfortably barefoot for several minutes. I often used lotion, Vaseline, Warm Skin, or some other thing like those to keep the soles of my feet more supple. It could have just been my imagination, but supple, moisturized skin seems to be more resistant to cold temps.
Thanks Moose, lots of very good advise here.
Would you be able to expand on the deep snow thingy... I have this idea that running through soft pow would be amazing barefoot, but given your comments I may have to rethink that.
Snow crusts are always a little troublesome, especially as I often have bare skin around my ankles, no cuts yet though, but something to be aware of.
Thanks again for your very interesting advise.
 
I don't know yet. We don't have that cold temps here yet, still above freezing, but the runs I've been out on where it's been close to freezing I've been wearing my spyridons with wool toe socks in them. That's been great.

I love the photos you post, Thomas. Keep them coming :)
Hi Line and thank you so much for your kind compliments.
We share the passion for the spyridons with a thin wollen sock, they are perfekt all the way down to -25C, my favourite snow trail combination.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Line Kolbe
Seems to be just walking for me this winter...

Last winter I run mostly on roads and snow mobile trails, skiers don't like seeing runners ruining their trails, although barefoot style running doesn't do much to hard packed snow. But if other and especially shod runners would run there it would ruin skiing trail... Only exception I make, is skiing trail made on sea ice, as it is not "official" skiing trail, I think it's pretty ok to run there. And it's quite different, nice atmosphere runnning there, just white and flat. With fog it's just white on every direction, including up and down. ;) I used vff bikila ls and komodosport ls, latter is windproof and bit warmer. Otherwise snow mobile trails, depending on how sinking the trail is.

Not much long distance runs, water bottles freeze and vffs get wet and become too cold. Mostly less than 20 km.
Wow, that sounds really amazing... running sea ice must be amazing.
Water currents around Nuuk ensure that our fiords does not freeze over, but seaice is a very good idea and must be a fun experience.

Our skiiers generally do not mind me, as I stay out to the side and take good care never to mess with the classic trails and only run the skate skiing bit, which they kick up themselves as well. I guess we are blessed with a friendly atmosphere here, being a very small cummunity.

WHy no running this year?
 
Like a friend of mine says, winter turns us into astronauts on an alien planet (although Greenland looks a good deal more inhospitable than the Midwest). You have to embrace the spirit of adventure, and all mental obstacles disappear. The only drawback, of course, is having to put on shoes. I really hate it, and just got a little frost nip yesterday trying to fight it, by running on wet, slushy pavement at -9C.

I think I'm like a lot of people at BRS with a decent tolerance for cold. I can barefoot it down to about -10C air temp on dry surfaces, but need to stay close to freezing in moist or slushy conditions. For shoes, I like Merrell Vapor trails for dry conditions, the Vivo Neos for compacted snow, and the Vivo Neo Trails for fresh or loose snow. With shoes and a good pair of wool socks, I can run comfortably on the coldest days, down to -30 to -35C. For clothes I run completely in Icebreaker Merino wool products--cap, balaclava, gloves, mittens, base layer, top, jacket, long underwear, and pants. They keep me dry and warm and best of all, they don't stink like synthetic stuff.

Also, I have a surface thermometer, and have found that, holding air temp constant, surfaces are significantly warmer at the end of the afternoon, especially if they've been exposed to sun.

So my winter barefoot strategy, discovered last year, is to drive up to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds and run back and forth on this one-mile-long street that gets a good dose of sun, is plowed regularly, and isn't salted. Plus it's up high, with good drainage, so the street reverts to dry pavement after a snowfall before anywhere else. It's kind of boring, running back and forth along the same, nearly desolate street, but it allows me to run barefoot about half the time throughout the winter.

Like you mentioned, running in fresh snow is a good quad workout. This year I'm also experimenting with running fartleks most of the time, to increase the workout-like quality of the run. A lot of people use winter as a time to build up their aerobic base, but for me, the logic seems to be just the opposite. Since my back-n-forths on the fairgrounds street are kind of tedious, I prefer intensity to distance, and keep the runs to an hour or less. Then in the spring I'll go back to my lovely longrun routes along the river or out to nearby lakes and back, hopefully with some improvement in pace after a winter's worth of fartleks.
Lee, there simply is such a massive amount of good information in your post.

I hear you on thehaving to wear shoes thing, but I am forced to during winter, if nothing else because temperatures gets into the no longer barefootable range and I really do not want frostbite on my toes.
But winter running really can be an amazing adventure.
I am very very tempted to try out some snow running barefoot, but I need to find a day where the temperature is wont kill my feet.
I run in mostly synthetic stuff, but I have found a layering strategy that keeps me comfortable down to -25C or so without restricting movement too much.

Would love to have a street like the one you mention around though.
 
I don't run... I hike which interestingly causes a different set of challenges. When running you generate a lot of heat which is useful at lower temperatures. Hiking is less aerobic so acclimatisation is key. I always wear minimal clothing all winter. My body becomes warmer as a result, however I still can't manage the distance you runners can. Once the temp gets below about 20f my hikes are severely curtailed unless I wear some minimalist shoes.

Since I much prefer natural I tend to only walk about 6 - 8 miles a day unless there is an event. As for snow, we are snow lite in the uk but I have a pair of boot tops (I cut the soles off and have sewn a tie string around them) which I wear as I find snow on top of my feet is harder to deal with than snow on my soles.
Hiking, must be even harder than running. Impressive.

You touch on a very interesting thing here, the snow on top of foot thing or wind for that matter.
I too have noticed that getting either snow, cold water or strong wind running over the exposed skin on my feet cools them down significantly faster, perhaps because unlike our soles, the skin is rather thin and it does not get heated from friction while running.
 
Amazing picture, Thomas -- and amazing running. Minus 25? I quite sure my lungs wouldn't be able to be outside in -25, and I am positive that I wouldn't be able to train. But it must a wonderful experience out there in the Greenlandic wilderness.

As for me, in Denmark, well, you know the weather here, I suppose: just above freezing most of the winter. I always want to run barefoot, and a couple of degrees below zero hasn't been a problem. (They love their salt here, though.) Have a pair of vivos and a pair of VFF in the closet, but prefer not to use them at all. (A pair of xeroshoes on its way as well.)

And why? It feels great. Ran today in 3-4 degrees, and it felt wonderful, fresh air (not compared to Greenland, but compared to Prague, where I used to live), rain dripping from my eyebrows, tingling in my feet as I navigate along the lakes. Its even better to run barefoot in 5 degrees than in 25, in some ways -- at least the feeling when you come back home is even more elated.

But in -25... Probably not.
Another dane - Pænt goddag :)
our native habbit of salting away everything definitely is annoying. I tend to think that we have a very barefoot friendly environment in general.
How do you find the gravel around the lakes? I have been running there a few times and foudn it quite OK for running myself, but parts of it an be a little tough.

I much prefer running barefoot in 25C over 5C though :)

perhaps we should do a barefoot around the lakes group run or something someday?