Snow and Ice and Running

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes."
- Pierre Elliot Trudeau

The above quote by the late Prime Minister Trudeau has been rattling around in my head lately, especially as the city of Toronto succumbs to winter and I fight the urge to hole up indoors until Spring. I've never been much of a winter runner: the frigid windchill and icy streets are intimidating to someone used to the steady grip of sidewalk underfoot. 

Yet, lately I'm coming to accept that this is Canada, and winter has been known to stretch on until April. Between now and then are important training months that I can't pass indoors on the treadmill... At least not exclusively. So the past couple weeks I've been making an effort to bundle up and run outside. 

The premise of winter running seems to conflict with why I love the sport so much: the freedom of running, the simplicity of lacing up your shoes and just going, is what I've always found so appealing. But winter running begs to differ: you need double layers of spandex, a hat, gloves, thermal socks and leg warmers. And that's all before contending with the icy, snowy pavement. 

And yet, I ran 16k outdoors this weekend and I felt my body start to adapt. At first my lungs screamed with each breath of frigid air inhaled and I struggled to pace myself and not give into my body's internal desire to run fast to warm up. But gradually my heart rate settled and my legs felt stronger. The technical challenge of carefully placing my feet amongst ice and snow is not so different from running trails and looking out for rocks and tree roots. 

I've heard winter running has other benefits: your heart grows stronger from working harder to circulate blood, you soak up some much needed vitamin D, the fresh air boosts your mood, and most importantly, running outside in less favourable conditions builds mental and physical toughness. 

So as the snow continues to fall and temperatures plummet I'll choose to embrace the winter season, lace up my running shoes, and hit the pavement anyway.  As Mr. Trudeau said, there's no such thing as bad weather.

Inside looking out: Winter is here