Running on Snow

I have been in Europe for the past few days at a hotel on the oustkirts of a big German city. There were fields on 3 sides of the hotel with footpaths and cycleways criss-crossing them. I had been to this hotel before but not since I started my running, so I did some prior research and mapped out a 4km circular run from the hotel. Just to check it out for suitability I walked the course in my full cold weather gear (hiking boots, socks, jeans, T-shirt, hoodie and winter jacket, gloves and a hat) on the evening of the day I arrived.

It seemed a good run. So next morning I decided to run the same route. Up at 07h00 it was cold out(I guessed that it felt like it was around -2C or -3C) but I decided to run it in just shorts and trainers because I have done longer runs at those temps before at home in the UK. I started off with a running vest to get me out of the hotel but stripped that off as soon as I was out of sight of the hotel and main hotel access road.

I soon warmed up on the first 1km quite nicely but what I didn't realise was that running on snow was slowing me down from my normal pace and I was having to be more careful about foot placement. Also until I changed running direction at roughly the 2km mark (the furthest point away from civilisation and literally in the middle of an open field) I hadn't noticed that the wind had come up and the temperature was dropping quite quickly (wind chill). Undeterred I carried running but was aware that I was a lot colder than normal.

Around the 3km mark I was thinking that I may be getting too cold, was getting out of breath but not shivering, so pushed on regardless (no other choice available). The cold was definitely taking its toll on the muscles too, slowing me down even further. My skin was already numb from around the 1.5km mark - nothing unusual about that. If I was not now within sight of my start point I think I may have been more worried, but by now I knew I could make it back without putting the running vest back on. I eventually put the vest back on just to walk across the hotel lobby and up to my room. It took me a while to warm up and then jump into a cool shower (a hot shower after getting very cold is not a good idea - look it up) to gradually raise my body temp.

After I got into the office I looked up the temperatures for the morning. It turns out it was around -5C to start with and was declining through out the morning and once the wind started to ratchet up the effective temp was around -9C or lower as I was running into the wind from the 2-3km mark and had a cross wind for the last km.

Lessons Learned:
1. I think I may have been in trouble if I had been on a longer route.
2. My running vest would have offered no warmth at all even if I had put it on.
3. My body is capable of a lot more abuse and can endure lower temps than I had anticipated
4. Find out how cold it really is before you venture out, not afterwards! (I did not run the following day as it was -12C at 07h00! However, I did enjoy a run today as there was an inch of fresh snow and the temp was only -1C and I took my own advice as per the following point #5 with an initial 800m out and back followed by 2 x 500m out and back for a total of 3.6km)
5. In order to be out of the cold danger zone and no be too isolated, run multiple "out and back" routes of 400m-500m rather than a circular route so you are closer to warmth and help. This way I could have venture out in the really cold weather in just shorts even though it was -12C.
6. I enjoyed the excitement (adrenalin?) of being in a position where I was isolated and faced with no choice but to carry on or face hypothermia if I stopped. This feeling of "no safety net" can be quite addictive I think.