The temperature is dropping more each day now, and it’s dark early. Both of these factors will affect your outdoor running. To stay safe and warm, there are precautions that you should take and fitness gear that you should add to your wardrobe.
Exercise during daylight hours, especially if you’re running in a busy traffic area
Yes, this can be difficult given that it’s often dark as you head into work or school and dark by the time you leave. If you can, fit your workout into your lunch break. Besides being safer to work out in the daylight so that cars can see you more easily, it can get difficult to motivate yourself to run when it’s cold and pitch black outside.
Buy some gear and accessories so cars can see you in the dark
Head to a sporting goods store and you’ll find an array of items from clothing with reflective details (like the new Nike Flash Pack gear) to lights you attach to your jacket with magnets.
When running in the dark, leave your music and earphones at home
Every runner thinks they’re paying close attention to their surroundings but it can be easy to get lost in your own thoughts or the music you’re listening to. When running in the dark, it’d be smart to be extra vigilant and just run without listening to music so you are more attuned to what’s going on around you.
Run facing the cars
That is, run on the left side of the road. You’ll be able to see what’s coming at you (rather than be caught by surprise by a vehicle behind you when running in the direction of traffic).
Plan to be ready for emergency situations
Although you should be careful when running year-round, the winter presents elements that make it even more important to
Bring your health card so that you have some sort of personal identification on you
If you were to slip on some ice and be knocked unconscious, this way the EMT or good Samaritan walking by will be able to ID you.
