It’s officially the first day of Spring but it still feels like winter. The forecast for the next couple of weeks is hovering around 0C.

I never thought I would say this but I’m actually glad that it’s staying at this temperature. Other than being slightly cold for the first couple of minutes of the run, the rest of the run is really comfortable, as long as you are wearing the right clothing.

There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices.

Here’s what I’ve learned about winter running and how to dress for success:

• If you run throughout the Fall and into Winter, your body (and mind) adjusts to the gradual drop in temperature so it’s not as bad as if you just start running in -20C
• Your upper body needs more layers than your lower body.
• You need to have 3 upper body layers – base layer, mid-layer, and a windbreaker layer – and you interchange these layers depending on the conditions.
• You need to cover your hands before you need to cover your ears and you need to cover your ears before you need to cover your neck. This means gloves, hats/ear muffs, then buffs/balaclavas.
• If there’s snow, it’s a good idea to wear trail running shoes which have better grip and is often waterproof so your feet don’t get wet when you run through slush and puddles. They keep your feet warmer too. Cold wet feet are the worst.

Here is how I actually dressed this winter:

• 10C+ is t-shirt and shorts weather
• 5 to 10C is t-shirt and pants
• 0 to 5C is long shirt, pants, and gloves
• -5 to 0C is base layer, mid-layer, pants, gloves, and something to cover your ears like a hat/touque or ear muffs
• -15 to -5C is all of the above + a jacket or wind breaker layer on top + a buff or a balaclava
• -25 to -15C all of the above + another pair of pants with thicker gloves
• Below -25C all of the above but with thicker layers

I’m enjoying this winter weather for as long as it will stay!