Saturday, December 18, 2004

Winter Exercising

I know a lot of you take your exercise indoors during the winter, and there is nothing wrong with that. Just be sure to continue exercising.

However, there are still those of us who exercise outside year round, particularly runners. I get to the park towards evenig and begin my run and when it's pretty cold out, about the only others down there are runners.

Here's a hint. If you're running outside, dress like it's about 20 degrees warmer than it actually is. ie. If it's 20 degrees, dress like it's 40 degrees (be sure to take the wind chill factor into your decision and don't allow skin to be exposed when temperatures are at a level to cause frost bite).

You can also do layers. As you run, you will begin warming up and stripping layers is not a bad idea.

One important thing. Most of us don't think too much about dehydration in the winter time as we associate it to heat. Don't ignore it! If you are running for longer than 30 minutes, you should also be taking in liquids.

I like running in bad weather. I keep thinking about that nice hot shower that is awaiting me. But you have to be aware of the temperature and be very careful of the ice (I had a pretty good scare a few times with black ice).

Keep going and the winter will be past in no time.

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