With it getting colder and colder outside i find myself wanting to upgrade my running wardrobe. Maybe you guys find yourself in a similar situation, or have already found your endgame and can give some recommendations.
Right now for example i am looking to upgrade some of my cheap decathlon longsleeved tops, that i am not particularly happy with, and maybe add a jacket/vest.
What are you wearing when it is X°C outside? When do you start using multiple layers and what’s your strategy?
What are your favorite pieces of running gear for when it gets cold outside? Feel free to name specific models.
Or maybe you aren’t as hung up about a specific brand, but have certain features/materials/technologies that you really like/dislike in your winter gear.
Thermal tights and top, thermal running beanie, smartwool thermal running stocks, snow gaters, merino flexi-chute or balaclava, mittens. Keeps me good to at least -18C.
Oh and a winter running jacket obviously when it’s really cold. As long as I keep my core insulated and my ears/head covered, I’m basically impervious to cold after the first couple of miles.
I’m one of those people that is almost always warm, and I can run through pretty extreme heat because I sweat like a shower, so I might just be slightly above average in body temp or something. Down to 0C I’ll basically just wear tights and a hat and I’m generally fine. The balaclava, jacket, etc is really for closer to -20 and snow.
I envy you, I definitely tend towards feeling too cold. But at the same time as you said after a few miles it gets warmer, so getting the balance right isn’t always easy. But at least where i am at it doesn’t get -20°C. Keeping my ears/fingers warm is definitely one of the important things.
Ears is always a bit harder, because the band of my shokz headphones can make things a bit akward, since just putting on a hat above them imo isn’t as comfortable since it puts some pressure on them. The solution that worked so far is that i got a headband, where i cut small holes behind the ears to route the headphone band through.
I have little clippy ear buds that clip on my ears and don’t go inside my ear canals (they basically hang from my earlobes and just inside the ear on the bottom), so the pressure doesn’t bother them, but you could also try maybe a looser, thicker hat too. And I’ve seen people with literal ear covers, like they just cover their ears and nothing else and aren’t connected. I guess then you can wear whatever buds or banded earphones and a hat over the ears if you use those.
Actually… I think I just realized why the hell I see people wearing those things. I thought they were just goofy people, I didn’t realize it was probably for earphone comfort. Lol
I tend to be warm when running. Around 40 F I’ll put on gloves, and around 32 F I’ll put on a light wool jacket and a beanie. I don’t run outside if it’s colder than that. I never wear long pants; my legs are always warm from the exercise.
Long sleeves below 40F t-shirts otherwise. Tights below 30F-shorts otherwise. I get hot and sweat A LOT so I like less coverage. Below 20F I’ll put on 2 long sleeves or a thicker hoodie. Light gloves go on below 30F, thick gloves below 20F. Snow cleats go on if it snows. A hat below 30F too depending on how I feel. As a rule of thumb, if I step outside and I’m hot/cold I’ll change accordingly.
I chafe a lot, so I’m pretty specific about the shorts I wear. When it gets cold I tried switching to tights but I found that no matter what kinda tights I was wearing, I still got chaffed pretty bad. I even had runs where pubic hair from my left leg got tied in a knot with pubic hair from my right leg.
The last 2 years I have just been using my summer shorts, and I just put loose sweats on top of them. It worked from a chafing perspective, but they were heavy, and picked up a lot of slush from dragging on the sometimes snowy trail.
This winter I will do basically the same thing, but I got slightly nicer running pants since the sweats hit end-of-life.
Chaffing truly is the worst, hope the new ones work well.
Being male I have no hips and so tights just wriggle their way down my waist as I run. I feel like a penguin after a short while and spend a bunch time trying to pull them back up as I’m running.
The result is awful chafing between the legs.
If I’m wearing tights I usually spread the body glide pretty heavily between my legs, which helps a little.
under 10c or feels like, thin gloves and short sleeved shirt with singlet underneath.
5c and below, long sleeved shirt and tights, and warm hat.
closer to 0c may wear an extra shirt over top of long sleeves.
edit: material is whatever quick dry sports material is available. ive not seen a significant difference in performance between top end (2xu, under armor) and no name dept store / ali amazon / temu brands
I’m so old-school. I still love my CW-X tights the best. I’m also a fan of fleece headbands. They keep my ears cool, but allow the heat out as I push. For really cold days, I have several Under Amour balacavas. As for gloves, I’m a fan of the fingerless ones that turn to mitts. I have a few different varieties I keep. For socks, merino wool is my favorite (SockGuy has some cute varieties).
Somehow i hadn’t heared of CW-X before, but looks interesting.
I also have a pair of hybrid gloves that turn into mitts (although not fingerless). It’s indeed a pretty useful feature.
Headwear is always a bit difficult to me, since i run with shokz headphones and i dislike when there is too much pressure on the headband when wearing something over it (even though i already have the smaller mini version). So last winter i got a headband from decathlon and made some holes behind the ears to stick them through.
How does merino wool hold up durability wise? Just out of general interest, because i am pretty happy with my injinji midweight trail toe socks (outside of the price).
On another note since making this thread i can report back that i have succeded in my quest and upgraded my longsleeved tops to Smartwhool Intraknit Thermal Merino Baselayer. So far i am quite happy with them.
CW-X was totally the rage before the Pandemic. Now everyone has deviated, but I still use my longer tights. It’s $$$, but lasts forever if washed carefully, and I love the compression and fit.
Because I already have sensory issues with most things on my head, I tend to get loose headbands (and hats). I wear my Shockz under them. Of course, with a balaclava, this is difficult. Earbuds or a clip on speaker could help. Noxgear makes a little clip on, and I’ve been eyeing it. I’ll probably ask for it for my birthday. :)
Merino that is well-made can last quite sometime (I put my merino socks in the dryer, but not my spandex clothing or other merino clothing). I never had issues with SockGuys wearing very easily. I collect them, and they seem to stick around forever—especially those I only use for athletics. I like the merino better than other kinds because it seems to wick the best. If I get my feet wet, it’s not as much of a nightmare to deal with. Temperature control and fit feels better, too.
I used to do full-length gloves, but prefer hybrid mitts as it feels like I can control temperature better, and it’s way easier to use devices with bare fingers than sensor gloves.