What to Wear Running in the Winter

I love running when it’s cold outside. But, every year, I go through the same scenario. I look at my closet and open my drawers and can’t figure out what to wear! 

This year was particularly challenging. It went from 60 degrees Fahrenheit to 30 degrees Fahrenheit in a matter of hours! Therefore, I started to do some research and see what other people say about what to wear when the weather gets colder.

Winter running

I started to do some research on the Internet. Between finding articles from Shape Magazine, Runner’s World and running blogs, I found that there wasn’t one outlet that told me what to wear while running in the winter.

Here are some tips on what to wear running in the winter…

The two best sites I found were JeffGalloway.com and Runner’s World.

From Jeff Galloway, Olympian:

What to wear as it gets colder (in Fahrenheit)

  • 60° +: tank top, singlet or T-shirt and shorts
  • 50-59°: T-shirt and shorts
  • 40-49°: long-sleeved T, shorts or tights or wind pants, sock or mittens and gloves
  • 30-39°: long-sleeved T and T-shirt, tights and shorts, socks or mittens or gloves, and hat over ears
  • 20-29°: Polypro top or thick long-sleeved T, another T-shirt layer, tights and shorts, mittens or gloves, and hat over ears.
  • 10-19 °: Polypro top and thick long long-sleeved T, tights and shorts, wind suit (top and pants), thick mitten, thick hat over ears.

Jeff Galloway goes on to tell you what to wear from 0 to negative 20 degrees but to be honest, once it gets that cold, according to the research I read, it becomes very dangerous to run, especially for those with Asthma and other lung issues.

From Runner’s World

Here is a chart that I found that I thought was quite clever. You “plug” in your information and the current temperature and conditions and this program suggests what to wear.

https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a20803133/what-to-wear/

If you have any suggestions on winter running, I would love to hear it in the comments below!