Off Season Running, or “It’ll Be a Cold Day in Hell...” by David Yockelson

Ah, the start of fall.  Leaves falling in droves from trees, squirrels scurrying to store nuts for the winter, darkness coming much earlier in the day...and cooler temperatures adding a layer or so to what we wear before venturing out for our runs.  Or...are we?  I’ve already been asked several times if I was running OUTSIDE now or next week or this winter. Really? Do the thirties – I’m talking temperatures here, people – really mean a move to (yuk) indoor running?

They certainly need not mean that. Moreover, winter should be a fabulous time to build some running base and strength, to relax a bit and build some of that VO2 max we hear about all the time.  So...what should you be considering in terms of winter “off season” running?

If you are an endurance athlete or someone intending to run a half-marathon, marathon, or complete a half-ironman or ironman next year, it’s never too early to start building run strength.  Long, easy runs help build endurance and the ability for your body to use oxygen efficiently. They’re also of tremendous mental help for those times that you know you’ll have to be out on a race course for a while. Cold and even snow are easy hurdles to overcome – for the cold, the simple rule of thumb is to dress for 20° warmer than it actually is – you warm up considerably on the run, so you can prepare for that.  On REALLY cold days, which for me are mid-20s and under, beyond the obvious hat/gloves/tights/layers, slather some Vaseline on your nose and cheeks.  Even snow is easily overcome; I actually love to go for an easy run in fresh snow.  While some people will even turn to snowshoes, I have a pair of YakTrax (the running shoe equivalent of chains for your auto tires), though in 30 years of running, I’ve worn them maybe twice.  Basically, you CAN run outdoors all year round.

(OK, if it’s below 10 degrees, then MAYBE it’s worth staying in, but I’ve run in 3 and 4 degree temps, and dressed appropriately, it’s doable.)

You may have guessed by now that I am no fan of the dreadmill (or tready or treadmill), which will be an anathema to some people.  And I can understand the advantages of a tready sometimes: it’s softer than pavement if you’re injured; and most treadmills are kept inside and thus you are protected from some of the severe temps noted above.  But I’ve always felt that treadmills force you to run a bit differently than you do outside unrestricted and without being subtly pulled by the tread.  If you’ve been injured, say with an Achilles, calf, or hamstring issue, I’d be careful about turning to the treadmill given that it will slightly pull your legs along and change your stride a bit (despite providing a softer surface). 

So now that you are all geared up to run outside, let’s see what fun we can have! I like to play the “catch the leaf game” in the fall.  That’s when, while running along, you try to catch leaves falling ahead of you, sort of like a neurotic fartlek workout (for the uninitiated, “fartlek” is Swedish for “speed play;” it’s basically a term that refers to doing interval work during a run).  There’s “leap the puddles” and “avoid the mud” as well, along with “warm the hands,” the game in which you find the appropriate hand gear and positions to keep your hands warm from start to finish – do you keep the thumb wrapped in your fist or do you let it free float, waiting for that first 10 cold minutes to go by?  Now don’t get too nervous here...even in the direst cold, my hands warm up after about 10-15 minutes of running. Lastly, there’s the “don’t slip on the ice like a clown” game in which you basically attempt to continue to remain on both feet while running despite the patches of black ice you often can’t see on the road (or brown ice on the trails).  Fortunately, that is also something I’ve done quite rarely, perhaps twice in the years I’ve been running.

How much should you be running and how fast should you be running those miles?  As I noted at the beginning, winter, which in theory is an off season for triathletes (I distinctly remember mine last year – it was a Tuesday in December), is a time to relax, rebuild, and remember that there are other things to do besides train. But OK, since we are all type A+++ folks, we’re going to do SOMETHING out there (accent on the “out”). So my advice is to major in strength, getting base miles in with a combination of long and frequent runs and some tempo running.  Speed can be done over the winter (and winter track meets can be fun if you have incredible patience), but I’d orient it toward tempo and fartlek – and hill work (yes, the hills can build similar speed/strength as speed work) – with a very good dose of easy running mixed in.  The right combination depends upon your near term (winter/spring) and longer term (tri season) goals as well as the amount of recovery your body needs from last season.