Running in the winter can be a challenge because you need need to stay warm, dry and visible. That’s going to be a definite challenge for me as I try to run an extra mile further each day over the next month, and if the first 3 days of this challenge are going to be any indication I’ll need to pull out every trick I know.

Over the next week I am going to offer tips on keeping various parts of your body warm while you are out running so that you’ll know what I know. I’ll also include some videos that I recorded last year for my newsletter subscribers.

Your head is potentially the greatest source of heat loss in your body, so here are some tips to start off with on what to wear in different conditions.

When it is relatively warm you don’t want to wear too much or you will sweat and become uncomfortable, but in cooler conditions it’s really important to keep your head warm.

The easiest thing to wear is to just have a ski cap, preferably in a fabric that can wick sweat away from your body. If you start to get too warm, you can always flip the edges up over your ears and then that will let off little bit of heat and cool you off pretty well.

If it isn’t all that cold out, you go either bare headed or with just a normal running hat which will keep the sun out of your eyes. Another option is to wear a head band which will keep your ears warm while still letting a little bit of heat escape through the top of your head.

For those really cold days you can wear a balaclava, which will cover not just your head but also your neck and, depending on how big it is, your shoulders. The nice thing about having a balaclava is that you can wear it over the back of your jacket so that if it’s snowing it will keep the snow from getting down your shirt. And you can also cover over your face and keep your face warm that way.

You can always run with a scarf as well, which is useful for keeping your neck warm or you can wrap it around your head for some extra warmth.

If you have some, it’s good to wear sunglasses as well. Not only will they protect you from the sun, but if it’s windy out it will keep your eyes from drying out or freezing shut.

More to follow tomorrow…