A runner’s Winter
There is one word many avid outdoor runners use to describe treadmills: boring.
Even though winter temperatures in Logan can dip into the mid-20s, some runners, like USU junior Morganne Longmore, stick to their favorite form of exercise undeterred by rain, snow, sleet or hail.
Longmore, who is majoring in community health, said she much prefers running in winter over summer.
“When you run (in the winter), you don’t feel like you’re going to die of heat stroke,” she said.
Longmore, who said she is training for a half-marathon in March, generally runs everyday, whether it’s raining or not.
“If I don’t keep up with the training schedule, then I’ll be screwed the day of the race,” she said.
Though she runs in most weather conditions, Longmore said she won’t run in blizzards or hard rainstorms, because her shoes get wet, which creates friction and rubbing on her feet.
Longmore said going to the gym is an alternative, but she doesn’t like running on gym treadmills because of the higher concentration of “body odor and mundane scenery.”
“It’s just not as fun,” she said. “I love being outside.”
BreeAnn Silcox, a senior majoring in health education, said she has been running for five years and agreed that gym atmospheres aren’t exciting when running in one fixed spot.
“I do sometimes run in the gyms, but I feel like it’s really boring,” she said. “You’re not seeing anything new.”
She said winter temperatures don’t bother her, either.
“I like to run in the winter because it’s cold, and I get really frustrated sometimes when I get hot,” Silcox said.
She said she runs in most winter weather conditions.
“Snow is snow, it’s not going to kill me. If it’s hailing sheets of ice, I won’t go run, but I’ve run in snowstorms before, and it doesn’t bother me,” she said.
Jessica Hansen, a senior majoring in FCHD, said she likes that cold air keeps her from sweating. Like Silcox and Longmore, Hansen said she dislikes running on treadmills.
“All I think about is how far I’ve gone,” Hansen said. “If I’m outside, I have things to look at, things to listen to, and it doesn’t seem like I run as far.”
Mike Deamer has managed the Runners North store in Providence for more than a year. A runner for 10 years, Mike said he likes running outside, even in winter, because it mixes up his routine.
“It’s not so much that I like running outside, it’s that I don’t like running inside,” Deamer said.
He said said treadmills are not only boring, but can make a person to quit running.
“I think it’s better to go outside on a trail and go explore,” he said.
Deamer said he prefers avoiding extreme weather situations like blizzards, but there has been nothing this year that has stopped him.
He said it’s important to dress for the weather, and there is special apparel to keep runners warm but layering clothes is important.
“If you get too hot, you can shed a layer,” he said.
To prevent frozen fingers and toes, Hansen said she wears special running clothes to keep warm and soak up perspiration. She also wears a headband to keep her ears warm.
“You just have to dress for it, so you don’t freeze,” Silcox said.
Deamer doesn’t wear any specific winter attire, but he said he occasionally puts a pair of Ice Trekkers on his shoes to give him more traction. These shoes act similar to snow chains on tires but are made for runners, he said.
Though Logan inversions can become problematic for many outdoor exercisers, Silcox said she isn’t bothered by Logan’s winter air.
Longmore agreed and said, “People talk about the inversion, but I don’t think it has been bad this year.”
On red-air days, Deamer said he still runs outside but doesn’t enjoy it as much.
“It’s not pleasant to run during the inversion, it makes my throat itchy,” he said.
Longmore uses a website called Map My Run to keep track of her running routine online. She said she can click on roads to create a specific route and distance goal and then record how long it took her to run the mapped trail. Her routes are usually located in the Island Neighborhood, she said.
Longmore swaps between short, medium and long runs every week, with the distance of each run “increasing gradually throughout the schedule” until she gets to the day of the race, she said.
Silcox said she tries to run at least three times a week, anywhere from 3-8 miles, depending on how she feels. She is not currently training for a specific event, because she said she wants to wait until she is done with school before committing the time.
Silcox said she sticks to familiar routines and likes to stay in the neighborhoods to avoid traffic.
“There are specific places that I know how far they are, and I like to go on those runs,” Silcox said.
– l.nemelka@aggiemail.usu.edu