How to Keep Your Spring Marathon Training on Track Over the Winter

Brian Acton

If you’re planning to run a marathon in the spring or summer, you can’t spend your winter on the couch. Winter is a key training period for working toward your marathon goals. But with shorter daylight hours, cold temperatures, and hazardous weather, finding the motivation to train can be difficult.

Extra planning and the right gear can help you continue to train safely and stay motivated. Here’s how to keep winter from derailing your spring marathon training.

1. Run Indoors and Outdoors

Running in cold weather isn’t always pleasant, but sometimes low temperatures and winter weather can actually be dangerous. When that happens, you can stay on schedule by running on the treadmill or an indoor track if you have access to one.

Don’t lean too hard on the treadmill, however. When weather conditions are favorable, it’s a great opportunity to do an outdoor run. Aim for optimal times of the day, like the afternoon when it’s warmer and there’s high visibility.

2. Wear the Right Clothes

For outdoor runs, you need to dress warm enough so that you aren’t losing too much body heat. Start with a base layer of moisture wicking fabrics, then add a middle layer like a fleece jacket to retain warmth. You can add an outside layer with a breathable coat, hat, and gloves to protect you from the elements.

Remember that overheating is possible, even in cold weather. Consider wearing layers you can easily take off as you warm up, such as your hat and gloves, and a jacket you can remove if you get too hot.

Bright colors are essential when there’s poor visibility from darkness, overcast skies, and winter precipitation. You want to make sure drivers and pedestrians can clearly see you.  

If you’re managing or recovering from an injury, you may want to wear some additional support to prevent reinjury. For example, the Performance Wrap™ Knee Support can provide compression and improved patella tracking to runners with mild knee injuries, and it will stay in place even while you move and sweat.

3. Plan Your Routes

Planning your routes can help avoid trouble in winter. You don’t want to get turned around when it’s dark or snowing, and it’s better to run on roads or paths that you know are well maintained.

You can do your longer runs in loops around a starting point, like your home. That way, you can drop off extra clothes or pick up water without having to worry about getting stuck too far away from your home base.

4. Hydrate

It’s easy to lose track of how much you’re sweating when you don’t feel hot. You may not feel as thirsty in the cold weather, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to hydrate. Make sure to continue to drink water just as you would in the warmer months. For longer distance runs, you will also need to replace your electrolytes.

5. Plan Ahead

Nothing can kill your motivation faster than not having a plan. Continue to follow a training schedule in the winter for your marathon, just as you would any other time of year. Mark runs on your calendar ahead of time. And lay out your running gear the night before - you don’t want to use the fact that you can’t find your gloves as an excuse to skip your training.

6. Recover

Key to any exercise program is recovery. Directly after a run you can aid your recovery by rehydrating and replenishing your carbohydrates and electrolytes. You can also stretch and use a foam roller on your legs and hips to loosen up your muscles and reduce soreness (to loosen muscles and reduce foot pain including symptoms of plantar fasciitis, use a specialized foot roller).

To reduce muscle swelling or to recover from an injury, cold-based therapy can be used as part of a recovery plan. While an ice bath may be the last thing you want after coming in from a cold day, you can target specific areas of your body using CorPak™ Hot & Cold Therapy Packs.

You’ll also want to make sure you’re eating to replenish your energy and getting enough sleep every night. Make sure to take rest days, or take recovery runs if you decide to run the following day.