As winter is officially coming to a start I thought it would be nice to mention a few ways you can make sure you keep warm on your runs and workouts. Keeping warm on a workout is important and you should understand that even when you’re sweating you can still be harmed by the effects of colder temperatures.

That being said it’s vital to have the proper gear when running. Here some of my top picks on items that will keep you warm.

1. Hat, a hat is a great item to combat cold with. Did you know that a large percent of your body heat comes off from your head? Between 7 percent and 55 percent of total body heat can be lost through the head (Parents, vol. 64 (December 1989), p. 242.) So it’s vital to keep that thing warm, wear a hat!

2. Gloves, wearing gloves can really help. When your body becomes cold it conserves heat and energy by giving heat and energy to those vital organs and things closest to your body. So you hands and fingers can sometimes be left to suffer. Wearing gloves can help combat your heat loss.

3. Layers of clothing, wearing layers of clothing is a great idea. Especially on a longer run where you are not going to be able to get more clothing if needed then wearing layers can help prevent cold problems. And in the event you get to hot you can just take it off and keep it with you and put it back on it you get cold once again.

If your a seasoned cold weather runner you’ll know that you tend to get a bit sweaty in all that gear sometimes. The thing not to do in such a situation is to remove too much clothing. The cold temperature will rapidly cool your body and the sweat goes not evaporate (which is the intention of perspiring in the first place) but rather will cool and may turn to ice. So if you take off clothing do it in moderation and you should always make sure you’re able to quickly place that clothing back on it you run into any problems or remain near somewhere you can quickly get warm at.

Also in the even you do get frost bit or any other injury from the cold weather you should immediately seek real medical advice. This article is just some of my ideas on keeping warm and should not be taken a medical advice.

We’re giving away free stickers to anyone who links to our website from their site (including blogs, myspace, facebook, ect…) Place a link anywhere on your site or a social media page such as your facebook page and we’ll send you a free sticker. The sticker features the ever famous running saying “My Sport Is Your Sport’s Punishment”.

Just send us an email detailing where you linked to us and your mailing address and we’ll mail you a sticker. We’ll even pay the shipping!

And if you link to us in a couple places we’ll send you a sticker for each link.

I’m just about run and logging 1,000 miles this year. I should hit that mark today (Monday 15th) on my next run. I only have 12 more miles to go before I hit the 1,000 mile mark. My marathon recovery this past month was a little longer than I’d like but even with that I knew I could hit this mark before the end of the year.

I’m looking to smash that mark in the upcoming year. My only set backs usually are my recovery time between marathon training. And I’ve just begun training for the next season, which is around the same time I began last season so I expect to be doing just as well if not better.

Let me know how many miles you’ve logged on your runs so far this year. I’d like to find out how other are doing.

Last night I watched a TV show on a man named Wim Hof, who wearing only shorts completed the first ever barefoot half marathon on snow in Antarctica. There were no other runners, just him a camera crew and the snow. I didn’t catch the whole show but boy did that look cold! Wim’s run of 13.11 miles on bare feet above the pole circle set a Guinness World Record.

Temperatures on this chilly run where between 20 and 30 degrees celcius below zero.

Quite an inspiration for running on the cold winter roads where I live. It’s not nearly as cold as the Antarctic, and if he can run there barefoot I’m sure I can survive my winter runs.

Upon Wim finishing his Antarctic run his feet where examined for frostbite and to see their condition. There was much concern that he’d lose his toes as they where turning black and he said he lost feeling in his left foot after 11 miles. In the end he didn’t lose his toes, which made him happy and excited to get him self prepared for his next challenge - running on Mt. Everest. But of course for now he’s allowing his feet to recoup.

Do you know of any holiday races? Typically during the winter holiday time there seems to be a drop in the number of races - most likely due to the weather. So I thought it would be nice to hear about neat and interesting holiday races near you.

Myself I usually do an annual turkey trot and then nothing really during the holiday season but this year I missed the turkey trot as I was visiting some family out of town during the day of the race. So what races to you typically run during this winter holiday time? If you have some interesting ones, we can also place them up in the race directory.