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Yesterday was day 21 of my 28-day running challenge. Despite a heavy gale-force wind, it went pretty well. Indeed, I’ve had to contend with very strong winds three of the last four days I have ran. This article will provide tips on how to run successfully in these kinds of conditions.
Update: Since writing this post, I have started a new blog that follows my attempts to run every single day for one year. To learn more, please visit iRun365.com.
For the past week, I’ve been running 25 minutes each day. When I run, I do a loop that according to Google Maps, takes me on a journey of about 3.4 miles (5.47km).
I think it’s important to run a loop for a few reasons, but the main one is that you finish up where you started. As this is the point where you’re going to be pretty exhausted, it’s important to be as near to your home as possible. I like to walk a bit to cool/warm down, and then home is less than a minute away. This is preferable to finishing your run 3.4 miles away from your house, and then having to walk home.
Also, running this fixed point-to-point loop lets me easily measure my progress. For example, when I upped my running time to 25 minutes each day last Monday, the time expired about 25 metres before this large black pole near my start point. This became my marker - my target.
On the second and third days, I just about made it to the poll before the time ran out.
On Thursday, however - day four this week - the wind was so strong during my run out that it took a supreme effort on my part to get back within 25m of that pole. Contrast that with Friday, when there was no wind at all, and I actually ended up sprinting a full 45 seconds beyond this marker - a distance of some 300 metres.
Saturday and Sunday the wind was up significantly and I had to battle to reach the marker again.
Clearly, the weather can make quite a difference to your running speeds.
Which Way Doth The Wind Blow?
If you run a loop like me, then before you start running take a moment to figure out which way the wind is blowing. If it’s a strong gale or more, this is important. Why? Because I think you should run into the wind at the beginning of your run - i.e., on the way out of your loop. This is because this is the time when you will be at your strongest.
It’s amazing how much of a difference running into a strong wind can make to your speed. I average probably about 7:45-8:15 per mile when I’m running. Yesterday, after my run I checked on the BBC’s weather site and it reported that winds were as high as 30mph. Naturally this makes a massive difference to my running speed, reducing me to a near crawl at times.
Tips For Running Into Wind
To maintain your normal (i.e., non-windy) speed, you will need to increase your effort proportionately to the strength of the gale. This might be as much as 50 per cent. Naturally, this is exhausting. Be mindful that you don’t push too hard. Conversely, it’s easy to become demoralised in a really heavy wind and ‘quit’ almost to the point of walking. Keep running, even if it’s super, super-slow. Don’t walk.
The Benefits
There aren’t many positives about running into a gale, but there is one - on a particularly hot day, the wind can be extremely cooling for your body. This can stop you sweating excessively.
Draft
Drafting is a technique often used in cycling where two bicycles will run in one line (head to tail) to increase speed. The lead bicycle displaces the air, creating a vacuum to suck the second bicycle along. You will see this in the in the Tour De France, where riders will take turns to lead the pack. After a while, the lead rider will drop back into the group to be replaced by another cyclist, who is energised and rested after the drafting.
You can benefit from this technique while running in a heavy wind, too. Either draft off of another runner or, better yet, a cyclist. Where I run there’s a cycling lane in the same area. In a very strong wind, the drag on a bike and rider is enormous and even strong cyclists can be reduced to a very slow speed, making them ideal for me to draft behind.
Tuck yourself in directly in relation to the bike and the angle of the wind, and you can often cut off the impact of the wind completely. It’s amazing what a difference it can make to your energy levels. Even drafting in this way for 30-60 seconds can give you ample time to reinvigorate.
Be respectful of your distance from the cyclist and be mindful that they don’t slow down to a point where you run into the back of them. Don’t bother people, either - if they ride away from you, it’s probably because they’re not happy with you drafting. However, I’ve found that most people don’t care or notice - they’re too busy dealing with the wind!
Use Buildings And Barriers
As much as possible, tuck yourself into buildings and other barriers to shield yourself from the wind. Again, even thirty seconds out of that gale can make a massive difference to your recovery.
If you have an option to cut through a subway or to go underground in any way to get out of the weather, use it.
Try To Make Yourself Small
The key to cutting through the wind is to be as aerodynamic as possible. While you should be careful that you don’t negatively affect your natural running style, try to tuck your body in as much as you can, looking to find the least possible resistance against the gale. If you normally run with fists, consider opening your hands to ‘chop’ through the wind. If the wind is particularly strong, you may need to lean forward more than normal - this will also have the effect of lowering your body which makes your overall presence against the wind smaller.
Don’t Give Up
When the wind is really strong it can be extremely demoralising to run into. Your legs and feet can become heavy and if it’s a cold day, your body can quickly become numb. Your energy resources are quickly used up and that little voice in the back of your head will be telling you to quit about ten times as much as normal.
Do everything you can to ignore him. Try and switch off as much as possible. If you can’t, focus on how good it’s going to feel when you reach the turnaround point of your loop and will then have the wind behind you.
Tips For Running With The Wind
It’s incredible how much difference the wind can make to the run times of each half of your loop - what has taken me 14-15 minutes on the way out can be cut to 10-11 minutes on the way home, simply because the wind has gone from working against me to working for me.
The Negatives
If it’s a very hot day, expect to sweat significantly more when the wind moves from in front of to behind you.
The Benefits
As soon as you hit your turnaround you will feel the wind on your back and your spirits will soar. Your running will become a lot freer and by simply maintaining the same effort and pace that you had into the wind will mean an increase of 25-50 per cent in your speed. This is because the benefit is two fold - you have lost resistance and gained support.
The positive effect it has on the mind and body can be extraordinary - if the wind is strong enough, it can almost feel like you have been provided with a seat for your run home, that God/Buddha/Allah/The Universe/Basic Physics (delete as appropriate) is carrying you back. You’re still running, of course, but mentally and physically the sheer drain your body felt running against the wind will almost be completely gone.
However, be careful that you don’t simply assume you are going faster because it has suddenly become easier. What I like to do is give myself a minute or two to become accustomed to the change and then slowly increase my speed to a point where I feel that I’m running about 10 per cent above what I consider to be fast. I’m not talking about flat-out sprinting - just a point where on a distance run you feel that you are running slightly quicker than normal.
This prevents me from fooling myself into thinking my wind-assisted speed is the fastest I can run simply because it feels a lot easier than it did a few minutes ago.
Maintain this until the last 100-200m, and then sprint. As above, the second half of your loop is a point where you can make up a lot of minutes on the first half. I don’t recommend endlessly checking your watch when running, but make a habit of glancing at it when you reach your turnaround point and noting the time. This gives you two points to work with, and you can easily evaluate your inward and outward progress in all weather conditions.
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Thanks for the tips, i recently about 2 years ago, discovered running again after about a 10 year hiatus and love it once i got back in shape for it. My goal is to run a marathon one day in the near future, and i am always looking for good running tips. thank you.