Gearing Up for Winter

Its no surprise that fall is my favorite time of the year for running! The cooler temps make me run faster and feel better. I love it! Thankfully this weekend the weather looks like its going to be pretty nice!

But the fall season here doesn’t last long…two months at the most. Soon its pitch dark in the morning and when I come home from work (the time I usually run) and also bitter cold! What’s a girl to do?

Since the area I live in isn’t the best (or safest) for running around in the dark, here are some things I’m going to do to make sure I don’t lose my running mojo this winter.

Run on my lunch break
Before the snow and ice hit the ground I’m going to try my best to get my runs in on my lunch break! It breaks up the work day of sitting at a desk and I always have a lot more energy when I get back.

Early morning treadmill runs
Since my schedule is going get a lot more hectic this winter, I won’t have time to get in runs after work. I’m going to have to go to the gym beforehand to get my runs in and do some easy or speedwork runs on the treadmill. I know it will feel great to get them done and over with in the early morning!

Do long/weekend runs outside
Even though the treadmill is convenient when the weather sucks (which is 90% of the time in the winter) I’m still going to do my weekend runs outside whenever possible. I wear my favorite winter running gear and I’m good to go.

Run at the local track
Most high school and college tracks are open to the public. My old high school track was where I ran my first ever mile! I’m going to go check out the local track to see if there are lights and if it would be a decent place to run after work. It would be great to get some speedwork in! Usually the snow and ice gets cleared (one would hope) so the track would be a good place to run when the sidewalks are covered. I’m going to check it out to see if it would be feasible to run here before work sometime.

Ready for this? Brrrr. I’m not.

Feel free to check out some of my previous posts about winter running and fitness:
How to not hate winter in the north east
My favorite winter running gear