This morning I landed back home in Europe after being in DC for a couple days. In doing so, I increased my environmental temperature by approximately 50°F….to approximately 50°F. Just think, if I did that again it’d be like being in the Caribbean.
And then I remembered that everyone else stateside is left in the cold. The windy, snowy, icy…generally miserable cold. For you in Australia, you don’t get to complain at this juncture about your warm temps.
Thus, in order to make the situation a tiny bit better, I figured a giveaway was in order. It’s been a little while since the last one. Actually, sorta way longer than I realized. Not exactly sure how that happened, but we need to get that fixed pronto!
The prize is simple: A $400 credit to to Clever Training to buy anything from the site you’d like. You can use it on anything they offer, from a Garmin watch to a PowerBeam trainer. If the item is over $400US, you’ll simply pay the difference, shipping is free either way. The giveaway is open to all readers – including international folks.
To enter yourself in, simply leave a comment below with the following:
To Enter: Give me the lowdown on the coldest swim/ride/run you’ve had this winter – simple as that!
Got it?
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Entries will be accepted through Sunday night, 11:59PM Eastern time (February 2nd, 2014). I’ll be you giving one device worth up to $400US from Clever Training. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on roughly Tuesday (my Mom’s Birthday) or Wednesday (if I’m still celebrating the Seahawks win on Sunday at the Super Bowl). One entry per person. The winner can decide on which device after they win. Devices/gadgets/gizmos over $400, the winner can pay the difference.
This giveaway is sponsored by Clever Training, which I’ve got a great partnership with. As you probably remember, by picking up sports technology gadgets from Clever Training you support the site. And on top of that, all DC Rainmaker readers get an exclusive 10% off all products they sell (basically every sports tech company/gadget/device) using coupon code DCR10BTF. Even cold weather gear. And most of all, you support the site in a big way – so I appreciate it!
Note, if you’re US Active Duty Military – you can submit your entry via e-mail [entry period closed] instead. No bunny rabbits or chocolatiers allowed via this method. Mmmkay? Thanks all!
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I’m spoiled as it was a 55F morning here in San Diego!
I’ve done multiple early am runs since I’ve moved to Northern California in the 20s and 30s. My legs stay cold, but my upper body usually gets warm after a mile or so.
Out for a cold run.
-2 C and 16m/s wind.
The wind was trying to knock me of my feet when it came from the side 😉
While it’s 0 degrees in US, we have -20 degrees in Lithuania (it’s the “feels like” temperature and yes, that is on Fahrenheit scale). I was silly enough thinking I can get dress warm for a run. 10 mins in and my poor fingers were ice cold and my face and nose and skin were ready to give up on me. Yeah, winter running must be done either on a treadmill or on the inside track.
Open Water Scuba certification in 52F lake in Huntsville, TX.; not bad for cold weather divers but torture for a Caribbean man. We loose heat to water 20-25 times faster than to air.
A nice, snowy trail run in -8 here outside Stockholm. So far a pretty weak winter by our standards.
My coldest run was in around 20 degrees with a windchill in the negatives in Kansas City. Whoever said Kansas is flat didn’t visit my parents place. Although it hurt, that run made me realize how much I love running to put up with that pain.
My birthday is the same day as your mom’s!
Hmm, southern hemisphere summer at the moment so how about 18km @ 33C in beautiful Mallacoota?
Near the Catalan Pyrenees. About 10 km in -5C. Thank god for hat, gloves, and 3 layers of clothing.
Down here in South Africa its been 6 months since winter. Had a run last Sat, around 28C with a little sunburn.
I feel for you northern hemispherers 🙂
I live in California…I got nothing! Cold and California don’t play well.
Running -16C on 17.01.2014 in Tallinn, Estonia
My coldest run this winter was during a race between Saint-Etienne and Lyon (in France) by night in early december : around -5°C (23°F) during 45 kilometres. And their was even a longer race (75 km) for the strongest!
Last week I was skating on a lake, when I managed to found the probably single weak spot on otherwise thick (15-20cm) ice and break in. Very short swim, got luckily back on ice, but the temperature was -15C, so the clothes almost froze, while I took my ~10mins of skating + running to reach the warmth of home.
It was a crisp 25 degrees and the mountain was steep. My beanie was soaked with sweat from the climb. Maybe it was the cold or the speedy downhill because I realized I had made sweatsicles.
Sunday morning ride over the Saleve mountain (1286m/4200ft) near Geneva, Switzerland on November 17th… Temperature on the descent was 0°C/32°F excluding wind chill and perhaps -15°C/5°F at times with wind chill. Wish I had worn thicker gloves 🙂
Not much cold weather in Denmark this winter. The coldest has be some heavy snow on my daily commute (on bike) that left me covered in snow.
Not so cold this winter in Belgium, but one day it was freezing a bit, around -3 Celsius in the morning, but sun was shining beautifully. So I thought let’s ride in my MTB shorts, it will warm up pretty soon and be around 10 degrees. But no way, after 5KM’s, I had a feeling that “certain” parts between my legs would freeze off, painful. Returned home and that was it for the day !
This winter in Zaragoza, nice city but with a terrible wind some days. Temperature about 0ºC, but that was not the problem, the hard part was the cold wind on the face. Anyway, it was a challenge running fighting against the weather.
Sunday ran 10k by -5 C and wind in my face… It take a 10 minutes to defrost myself when I came home…
Technically, I believe it was still fall when I had my worst ride of this winter. It started out in fairly okayish conditions, with the occasional hint of sunshine even. Inevitably though, roughly at the halfway point, the locks of heaven opened up as we would say in Dutch, bringing forth swimming pools for raindrops. Given my tendency to go riding on desolate farm roads between corn and potato fields, shelter was nowhere near to an option. The result was the wettest I’ve ever been. I believe I even dried up a bit during the shower afterwards. Also, I had to do the remainder of the ride almost by memory as I couldn’t see anything anymore through my muddy glasses. I know they say that it is in such weather that the champions are created, but at the time I would gladly have sold my mother in law to be couchpotatoing at home.
Not really much of a winter here in Germany this year. However, towards the end of November it was cold enough (-5 C) that I slipped on some ice while running and tore my right gastrocnemius. Meant that I had 5 weeks indoors on the trainer so I really missed out on the cold!
it was december in ankara… -14C and when I came back from the run I had an ice beard…
The Steamboat Springs Pentathlon…although it’s amazing how warm you can get running up a ski slope.
-6 ° C, dark (headlamp), windy and snow, 15 K run, in the (not so cold) central Sweden.
Edmonton, Canada. Jan 01, 2014, Resolution Run -20c with wind.
As we don’t have a real winter so far here in Munich, Germany, my cold run this season was at +2 deg C only.
So not really very cold but the coldest for me so far.
Droffen
It’s been fairly mild most of the time this winter in Fairbanks, Alaska, but Running Club North’s annual Airport Run was -33*F earlier this month. Doesn’t look like I’m going to break my all time record of -49*F from a couple of years ago!
Wasn’t really that cold, but I’m from Seattle, so used to it being damp but still above freezing. But I was in DC for Thanksgiving and got my friend to do a 5K with me that morning, I think it was 22? But my PNW bones were chilled!
Winter has yet to come in my country, my coldest run was something like 10° this winter 🙂
Mine was only a balmy -2c run a couple of weeks ago, sounds almost tropical compared to some of the temperatures elsewhere in the world at the moment.
Currently enjoying the warm winter we have in Europe due to that polar vortex.
So no ice beards in Belgium (yet). Which makes for some very nice cycling weather.
Last year it was -15C though, so I recognize the pain. Massive respect for those who face the cold!
The UK hasn’t had much other than rain this winter so no real cold days however there was one day when the local loch had a very thin covering of ice (so thin the ducks were breaking it as they swam).. We figured why not so gave it a go – never had to icebreak on a swim before!
Unfortuantely, temps are pretty mild here in Vegas this winter. Closest thing I got to swimming in cold water was when my water heater broke and I had to take cold showers for a few days until it was replaced 🙂
Gee, the winter has been pretty mild in Germany so far. Sub-zero °C temperatures just set in a week ago or so, so technically my coldest workout this winter was a stage of the Sufferfest Tour of Sufferlandria with the windows cracked wide open and -5° C outside…
First of all, love your website and all the effort you put on it! Thank you so much, it’s somewhat between funny, inspiring and useful.
Then it’s turn to get into my entry: January 16th, after passing an exam at the University I had a long ride started with 6°C cloudy, then moved to 8°C rainy (well, perhaps stormy..), at this point I was delighted with a flat (which I was thinking to inflate with pouring rain, saving a 1,5€ CO2 unit) and on the way home the rain stopped and I was not so thankfully dried by a damn cold lateral wind. I had an headache for the following two days..
Enjoy yourself around the world DCRainmaker!
Back home in England when I slipped on the ice and almost ended up in Weymouth harbour
It was so cold there were patches of ice floating in the water. I ice-skated during the bike section and ended up turning into a snowman by the end of the run. I fell unconscious. Woke up and realized it was all just a dream. Have a great day:)
week ago ,hardcore 8km run in freezing cold -15c, windy weather in Goldap, north east of Poland
The coldest run is still at a +1 degree Celsius this winter. Which makes it hard to call it winter at all.
Western Europe didn’t have a winter yet. My coldest ride was at about 6°C… (last winter I went out at -8° when my bottles with energy drink froze and I got stuck with two giant Calippo’s)
Okay, it wasn’t even winter (in fact it is summer here in Wanaka) but Challenge Wanaka iron-distance this year was in frigid temps! 3-4C air temp at the start, and water temp of under 14C left me utterly frozen for the entire bike ride. I distinctly remember feeling the cold seep into my brain in the swim, and I didn’t like it!
As you know, Paris has been pretty mild this winter – so far. The coldest run so far this winter was in December when running down by the Seine, the wet pavement was slightly frosty/icy and I came close to slipping/skidding into the river at one point.
Riding the snow along the Dutch coast. White snowy sand, freezing wind and probably around minus 10 degrees Celsius.
-11˚C on an usually cold december morning in BC, Canada. I slipped on the ice and almost broke my face 🙂 Next time better put on spikes.
-11°C run. With wind – feels like -20°C
Hot, humid and hilly. A easy run just isn’t possible no matter how slow I go.
Stockholm Sweden, a week ago, sunshine and -10°C. Lovely weather! I ride a recumbent handcycle which gets me very low to the ground and transforms me into a dirt-monster on wet roads. Just take a look at this picture.
-8 degrees in Val d’Isere, last 2 kms under heavy snow falls
Due to the abscence of winter in Belgium this year, my coldest run was limited to a nice 4°C (40°F). Since I had too many clothes on, I was sweating like hell.
Last weekend I started off in sunny Geneva and finished at the top of the very snowy Salève in France, where the 1000m altitude change resulted in a 10C temperature drop, a 6-inch increase in snow depth and some pretty gusty, wintry winds. A great 25km run, made all the better by passing a fellow runner at the top of the mountain.
I’d say 2C… Basically no winter (so far) in Western Europe.
It was -16C and windy yesterday, 20 min commute one way for a swim in a pool.
I don’t believe in thermometers so I never know how cold/hot it is. So last time I went for a 5 km jog, it was “cold at the beginning – ok after five minutes”. I think that is pretty spot on tempterature wise.
-19 here, Celcius, or -1 Fahrenheit for you guys in the US. A 10km run, downtown Bucharest, Romania. Plenty of snow to fight against, which actually kept me warm. Temperatures are about to decline even more, -21 forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday. If the competition is still on, I will run again and leave a post 🙂
On Tuesday morning I went to a morning run at 6:30 am and it was quite cold 🙂
Set off for a bike spin last Saturday in Dublin on the sunshine though it was 4 degrees C with a strong cold breeze. Bout half an hour in the heavens opened and the wind picked up . We had this horizontal rain driven along by the strong wind . We got soaked through and the wind chill made us miserable all the way back. worse again the wind picked up enough to force us off the bikes , we has to walk the last stretch home . Just miserable
Erm… sydney, and Southern Hemisphere summer, so I am going to have to go for the fact I always deliberately have a freezing cold shower after swimming in the 50m, four to a lane olympic pool under the harbour bridge….
Sorry….not really helping you here… I miss running in proper cold weather back home in England.
-5 °C Run on icy streets in Immenstadt im Allgäu, Germany!
I started my 2014 Marathon training mid December 2013 – here in Switzerland.
Since then temperatures did not really rise above 5°C.
The coldest though was just this weeks Monday – 2 miles intro, 10x 800m @95%, 1 mile outro.
Temperature: -1°C on the thermometer @ ~7pm.
Me: scared as hell by the workout, but nailed the intervals, temperature became secondary, me became warm quite quick. Awesome! 🙂
Yeah, it’s supposedly summer here in the Southern Hemisphere yet last weekend I had to don full thermals to tackle a 22K training run in single digit (celcius) weather with gale force winds and bucketing rain.
Some summer, huh?
I haven’t been that cold here…yet. But I’ve done a couple of runs in snow and -7*C.
Coldest run just at 16C a week ago.
It’s been a very, very mild winter in the UK so far, and I think the coldest run was maybe 4C. I haven’t needed any of the serious cold-weather gear, and the YakTrax are still in storage from last year.
Rain, though, don’t get me started on the rain.
Well for this year I would say the 21KM trail event in the mount Taygetos with 10 degrees Celsius. Don’t laugh people this is cold for us here
Coldest? Hmmm, must be when it dropped to an icey 12C one morning. About as cold as the nights can get in Western Australia in the summer!
Only -2 º C (28 F) in Madrid / Spain.
Around 0°C on my bike and not equipped properly… I though I was gonna lose my toes 🙂
Recovering from a surgery so haven’t worked out however I’ve spent the last 2 nights walking a beat in Charleston SC during ice storms watching the bar crowd 20 degrees and polyester feels a lot colder!
Hi. Half marathon in Small town (Cieza) near Murcia (South East Spain). Despite the bright sun in the morning, the temperature was -1ºC at the star of the run. Thanks good, at the end on 21 Km, the temperature was 5ºC… big improving :-)… But the conclusion was that the run was fine… and the place nice…
Thanks for your reviews…
5 degrees celsius. Mount Carmel, Israel. 2 hour ride as preparation for a race near the dead sea. The view was great but foggy because of my breath. Was lots of fun though
In general, it’s interesting Ray.. Why are you doing this giveaway? I wonder what the motivation is
After slipping on a patch of ice with my road bike around Christmas 2012, and breaking my collar bone,
I’m sticking to the trainer for winter rides!
The coldest run this winter was the 5km parkrun in Yeovil Montacute over the Christmas and New Year period. It was -1 deg C, icy, muddy, frosty. Coming from the Southern Hemisphere, where it’s very hot this time of the year, the run was definitely the coldest I’ve had this “winter”.
A run in -29C windchill
Hi there.
Arround 0ºC on my bike in the Rascafria zone (Mountains in Madrid). Nice day, sunny and bright but terribly cold.
Despite we managed to end the 80 km mountain baki ride.
Thanks for everythink.
I’m a candyass – i did run in -10 celcius; anything colder and i hit the treadmill!
7 mile run at -4 F with wind chill ~ -20F (-30C) in cottage country Ontario.
It’s been pretty mild here in London really this winter – lowest I’ve run in is about 3ºC I think. Haven’t even had to break out the tights yet!
Coldest run this winter so far was last Sunday for me in Hungary, temperature was -6°C, distance 8 km.
No real winter in the Netherlands. My coldest run so far was a 23K run at zero degrees Celsius.
My absolute coldest moments were during the Houffa Trail (50 km trail run as part of Xtrails Houffalize) last December. Temperatures in Belgium were around five degress centigrade, the water was just above freezing point. There were two river crossings, one of 12 meters, the other 30 meters, both knee to thigh deep. I figured I’d just run into the first river (after 14 km) to get it over with: what’s a measly 12 meters, right? After about 5 meters I lost my footing and fell into the river with the water up to my lips. Quite a shock, I can tell you! I ran the next couple of hills at full speed, just to get back a little wamth.
The second river crossing came at 25 km, 30 meters of thigh deep water. I was just about dried up from my unplanned swim, so I treaded carefully indeed. It took me three minutes to cross the river, during which I felt an intense cold creeping up from my legs to my core, right up to my neck. I was pretty much numb all over after climbing up the river bank.
To this day I really can’t tell you which was colder: the ‘swim’ or the ‘crawl’. After reaching the finish, I heard of several people having fallen into the water and subsequently dropping out of the race due to hypothermia. The race organisation even added ropes and cold water specialists to the shorter distances later that day. I guess I got lucky 🙂
Coldest run I have had this winter was last Wednesday. About 1-2 Celsius but that darn wind made it feel like -5 or so.. Not terribly cold but then again, our winter has been pretty mild so far!
-2 Celcius some time ago in Romania.
Coldest run last winter (January 2013), in Munich Germany, -20°C, distance roughly 10km
Happy training/running weekend everybody!
-5ºC getting ready for Altitoy (ever thought of giving it a try to ski mountaneering races?) down by the Pyrenees back in December. Thanks.
Cold? a few days ago I was riding around Mt Macedon in Victoria, Australia on a 43 deg C (109 deg F) day!
Last winter my coldest ride was up Mt Donna Buang (a beautiful 1080m in 17km climb) Kept warm going up, especially on the 10 % gradient bits, but back wheel slipping out on black ice a few times. I decide to hitch a ride down with some sightseers due to the danger of the icy road descending, but in the end rode down (and stayed on). Arms, hands, fingers just frozen from the decent. The hot coffee afterwards felt like the best ever…
We did the polar bear swim in Vancouver on new years day, that was pretty chilly.
2h Bike training -3ºC and windy… very, very cold …
That would be a snowy early morning run in December at -7°c here in Switzerland. This year winter mostly has been pretty mild though in these parts.
-5c run the other day, 16c swim at Vansbro and 7c Vättern round bike…
I have to admit that I have not been running in the cold this winter. The coldest workout I have expeienced recently must have been one of my trainer workouts I am doing in my veranda, around 5 degrees celsium in summer cycling kit.
Last Sunday 30k run in -14°C
Warsaw, Poland
Simply waiting for the winter to really start, 5 to 10°C isnt really winter. But runs under heavy shower, Yes i had. too many.
Given it’s summer here in Australia and the fact that it doesn’t even get that cold here in Winter, it’s tough to really give a good story. The run that I felt the coldest that I can think of last winter was actually when I did the Tough Mudder event. This was in September at Phillip Island. It really was not that cold of the day, but jumping into containers of ice water and then being in and out of water continuously after that left me shivering nearly the whole course!
I think it was close to 60°F last week during one of my late-night runs. Also, the heater’s out at the open-air pool that I’ve been swimming in, and it was raining earlier in the week. That was kinda chilly.
Sorry, Ray, I live in Hawaii — that’s the coldest it ever gets here.
Living in icy Norway I do most of my winter training on a treadmill or on my Kickr indoors in my garage in about 12*C.
19C bike ride in Manila was the coldest I’ve ridden
The cold has zapped my motivation. My coldest runs have been on the treadmill in my 40 degree F garage. With no TV or iPad. Yeah, it was rough.
My daily commute on the bicycle has gotten quite cold this winter, but probably no lower than -1°C. It’s the wind that hurts the most if you leave some flesh unprotected!