We all know training in the winter presents more challenges than the summer. From running in the dark, to the rainy evenings and the cold mornings, here are our top 5 tips to help get you out the door and keep your training going in the right direction!
1. Sign Up For an Event
Having an event in the diary to work towards gives you a reason to resist the temptation to snooze the alarm clock and fight the elements first thing.
Pushing yourself through a savage interval workout is never easy, especially when you're not quite sure what you are training for. So find an event for the early spring or even one over the winter to give yourself a reason to grind it out with those tough sessions.
Find your perfect event using Races by Runna, where you can filter your search by location, date, temperature, elevation (and more) to find an experience that suits you.
2. Tell a Friend / Find a Training Buddy
Having someone to hold you accountable or even just keep you company is so important! If you plan to go out on a run with a friend and put a date and a time to it then you can no longer procrastinate yourself out of doing that run as you won't only be letting yourself down, you will be letting your buddy down too.
Even if your friends won't run with you, you can still tell a friend about the run you are planning to do. This will make you more likely to go out on that run.
3. Invest in Winter Kit
No one likes to go out running when they know their fingers are going to freeze and their running top will get soaked through. Having proper running kit to keep you dry and warm through the winter is imperative.
Invest in a good pair of gloves, a running quarter zip, and maybe even some warmer socks. Having a few lightweight waterproof layers is really useful too as you never know when you will be caught in a downpour!
4. Try the Treadmill
If the cold and wet just simply isn't for you, you can hit the treadmill, or swap some of your running training time out for cross training. Activities such as swimming, cycling and football all help keep your fitness levels up and you may find it fun to switch everything up a little.
5. Commit to a Plan
Following a good plan is the BEST way to stay accountable. A plan takes the guesswork out of your training, so you don't have to think about how far to run or what sort of run to do. All you need to do is focus on is getting out of the door. This will keep you on track with your training so that when summer rolls around again, you are ready to smash some new PBs.
Good luck training over the winter! We hope that these tips help you stay motivated to keep training over winter so that come summer the PBs come rolling in!
If you need an extra boost to get out of the door for some winter miles, listen to this episode of the Runna podcast, where Anya and Ben share their top tips to keep your running on track.