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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Polar Vortex run in the wind, -2 with the wind chill – finally forced me to invest in a balaclava and running tights (which i’ve steadfastly avoided forever). Got 45 Z4 minutes done, couldnt feel my extremities for about 30 minutes after.
So picture this…14 000 people at the start line, 530 am, middle of winter in Durban, South Africa, 87 km’s (54 miles) to go and it’s already 20 degrees C (68 F)! It got up to 36 degrees later that day (June 2), around 4 000 people never made it to the finish line in the 12 hour cut off (usually about a 1 000 people miss the cut off).
So much for a cold winter!
Coldest run so far this winter has been around 0C, not too bad. Wool shirt and windbreaker, winter tights, gloves and headband.
Last winter I ran quite a lot in -10C weather. Snow and blue skies, fantastic!
6C last December in San Francisco Bay Area.
Surf club winter swimming groups annual race weigh the neighbouring club. Air temp was about ten deg c, windy and raining, ocean very rough and about 16.
Of the 40 people that started, 12 needed to be rescued or required some form of assistance, and a further 8 didn’t finish. We had breaking surf at the turn buoys, so you had to swim out through breaking surf, swim parallel to the beach in breaking surf, then swim back in, in breaking surf.
A very challenging swim, cold water and cold air.
Last January 20th where I did my short winter bike ride to go to the job at -22F. I’m now used to ride in all kind of weather even in winter but that day was extremely difficult because there was a slippy snow mixture that made it almost impossible to keep your balance for more than 10m.
Hasn’t been that cold yet in Belgium. Coldest ride was about 3°C.
Jan has been more like mid to late Feb in South Africa so can’t say I’ve done much below 18C on my early morning rides…
You guys up north need to share a bit of cold. (but only a small bit ;)
14 degree bike ride – 1 hour of Brrrrrrr
Used the ‘Feels Like’ feature on weather.com. Probably should have taken gloves anyway as it did not feel like 10 degrees
Last year, one Sunday morning in early January, here in the Alsace (the bit around Strasbourg, before hitting Germany), it was pretty nippy, around -5° to -10°c.
I got my cold weather running kit on, and hopped outside.
Unfortunately it had rained in the night and there was Black ice everywhere, Bambi on ice time.
I decided after looking like the guys trying to get into the Home Alone house for 5 mins to return inside for a nice warm up.
That wasn’t before I renched my shoulder hanging on for dear life, only 5 meters from the front door.
Not my finest moment.
24F which felt comfortably warm after a minus-6F morning!
Coldest ride would be the snow MTB ride at the local state park, it was about 17F/-8C when we started and didn’t get much warmer through the morning. Lots of fun friends even though it was scary crossing some of the semi-frozen streams!
Mountain biking in Wissahickon Park in Philadelphia. Snow on the ground and 16 degrees…brrrrr.
It has been a mild winter here so far so the coldest is a run at only -2°C. Coldest ever bike ride was -26°C but that was many years ago…
I run indoors in winter so pretty stable temperatures….
I ran in -8’F plus winds and I had no cold gear on because I’m a junior athlete and can’t afford it.
55 miles ride @ Oporto with 5ºC!
Wasn’t crazy-cold, but coldest ride 7 ºC and coldest run about 3 / 4 ºC, there’s no way I swim open water with those temps!!! :-D
12 degrees swim in the Wellington harbour. Not doing that again . Until next winter ;)
Coldest ride this year was out club Christmas ride. I’d covered my bike in tinsel and had a very surreal moment chasing down santa as he attacked down a descent ;)
um, I wait for the sun generally to come up, so my coldest run might have been in the 40F’s maybe. If I have done colder I have blocked it from my mind. Life in the desert
Biking south of belgium, -2C only … but with strong wind!!
My coldest run was just last weekend – it was 7°F, not sure about the windchill. Only 5 of us showed up from my running group and we had a great sense of pride in doing so. Really, it wasn’t all that bad with enough layers and once we got moving. It probably was also better because we were running together and friendly conversation is always a great distraction.
My coldest run (bear in mind I usually run treadmill so don’t have many outside runs to choose from!) I think was on Christmas day here in NoVa, it was below freezing for sure (maybe below 20) with a little wind, especially near the river. My fingers & toes went numb during the run!
But my favorite cold-ish run recently was w/my DH on the Mt Vernon Trail on New Years Eve. We started in Arlington before midnight, heading south and timing it to be able to see the fireworks in Alexandria. Then we turned around and came back. Didn’t encounter anyone else the whole way on the trail – can’t imagine that happening any other time and we were surprised it happened at all! It wasn’t that cold, just below freezing, with little or no wind. A great way to end & to start a year!
I must say after reading many posts, my 22 degree run in the Midwest fails in comparison to many other athletes!
A not to bad winter this year, the coldest temperature was probably -10 C.
As a side note, coldest marathon was around +5 degrees C with wind and sideway rain but it was in the summer, normally it should be acound 15-25 degrees…. Brrr!! :)
20km night x-coutry skiing at -9°C 25.december.
running 3 miles in 20 Degrees with 20 MPH winds by the water here in Southern MD…
I think the coolest run this winter has been about –11 ˙C/12 ˙F, snowing and with a bit of wind. I actually like running in the winter. I often over-dress, though, so I have no problem with the cold, but rather with being too warm. When the wind starts cooling your face down too much, though, it’s not very comfortable. But that just mean you should get a balaclava until next time.
Running the military fitness test in extreme winds and coldness!
I ran 1st half marathon on January 13th Penang run 4th series… Never woke up at 3am in the dark morning to go for a race! Surely it cannot compare to those in sub 0 temperature, but it was a chilly dark morning alright… Finished in 3.08 …been nursing a knee injury since… Sorely need motivation ( hint : new fitness gadget) will surely be great to get back into training for Penang Bridge run later this year… Thanks and greetings from hot, humid Penang island Malaysia…
A 16.8 km long run at -10ºc by the danish shore in Copenhagen, trying to recover from the hungover of meeting friends after the holidays, right the day I came back from wetsuit shopping in Berlin. Wind was so cold it burned the skin below my glasses and above my buff, but worth it!
2°C on a sunday morning team bike ride.
I consider myself lucky as it hasn’t frozen yet, nor rained too much (during the weekends) this winter in Belgium.
2014-01-25 running: 30min slow/ 30min fast / 30min slow – at -6 °C and 40 km/h wind
This winter is being surprisingly “warm” in Austria. I didn’t run under 0-5 ºC… That’s kind of cool compared with last year, when it was still snowing in April, 1 week before the Vienna Marathon.
I don’t run when it’s cold :)
It’s been extremely cold this winter in NJ, but this past Sunday it was 2 degrees F. I had to cut my run short, cold weather gear can only do so much in these temps!
Not something about cold weather, but moreover due to the lack of cold weather in the Netherlands! I’m kinda been plagued by hay fever this month. Something that sucks. And also since it hasn’t snowed yet till now, I haven’t been able to walk during the nighttime/in the evening! And yes, I’m a big fan of those snowy days what creates magnificent panoramas.
1h run @ -20C
10 degress Celsius! Cant ask for much colder than that! I live in Brazil. Second place overall in the race that day
I love winter so lots of cold training story’s but last Sunday I did my 1.5 km training laps in almost freezing water ( 2.2 ºC/ 35.9 ºF). This morning I measured the water temperature for Sundays open water swim training and it’s now -3.4 ºC / 26.2 ºF. Still no ice because of many the ducks and geese so lucky me :-)
Coldest run,was in Russia -26 C,coldest water was in ice hole when the air was lower then -15C.i do even 20 km cross country ski in -32 C!!
We’ve had plenty of runs here that have been in the single digits with wind chills making the runs below zero. The best part is that lots of the runs have been an hour or more in duration. Needless to say, we’re excited about warmer temperatures and the spring!
Coldest jog so far was 3 degrees before wind chills. Ran 1.2 miles and came back home to warm up.
Last week in cleveland ohio. Needed to get my run in. -14 windchill. froze my cajones off. Literally.
Running Jan 7th in Philadelphia, PA temp was about 8F with a wind chill under 0F. My mistake was running on the Schuylkill River Trail by the Art Museum which does not block any wind.
Hey Ray being in dc I’m sure you are aware of how cold it’s been on the east coast. From the constant sub 10deg F temps at night, to the semi-constant mid 20s (closer to teens and single digits this week) it’s been the last couple weeks. Couple that with two snow storms on consecutive weeks and I’ll say it’s probably been one of the coldest and toughest training winters in recent memory. Here in VA I’m use to the 40deg F weather. Doing a site covered track without yesterday was no picnic. Enjoy the warm!
My coldest cycling was a 4 hour ride. With a lot of fog and a temperature at approximate 0 degrees Celsius. But because of the wind it felt like minus 4 degrees Celsius
Running beside the Thames its a good old rainy day in london, nice cold and grey. They’ve just told us its the wettest on record.
The coldest winter I’ve experienced so far here in the Philippines. I ran outside at about 4am just to keep in shape since I ate a lot in the holidays. Temperature was about 18 degrees Celsius(Cold for our country which is near the equator) with very strong winds due to a weather disturbance. Nevertheless it was worth the effort.
My coldest training wasn’t that bad actually.. Must have been a 2 degrees C / 35F bike ride with some chilly eastern winds. I’m counting myself incredibly lucky for being able to continue my training over here in the Netherlands in relatively pleasant conditions.
It has been brutal in Southern VA. I’m pretty good down into the teens for riding, but a few weeks ago, I went out–and came right back in after 12 miles. Cold!
Running 19km this weekend in -5˙C and with a windspeed of 10m/s making it feels like -20˙C…
December 2013, Switzerland, snowing, -10C (14F), and there I was riding my mountain bike on the way home from work. You know it’s cold when your derailleurs feeze up… just as I hit the 250m ascent to get home (this country is anything but flat!)
.mu first northern Michigan and I’m dealing with this polar vortex. Been running pretty regularly in sub zero air temps and windchills in the savings-10 to have-20 range
…brrrrr
-30 c, -40 windchill 10 mile run. Would say this is the norm. Here is story even! link to steinbachonline.com
My worst this winter was -17℃ (feels like -23℃)
Proof : link to connect.garmin.com
I remember my finger were so cold I had to put them in some private place to warm them..
Greetings from Québec,Canada
Max
cold? can’t imagine swimming during winter. I live in southeast asia, the coldest I’ve diped in probably warm to most of you guys :)
Running 12 miles in the first blizzard of the new year. Thought the snow was supposed to start later than it did so I got stuck in it. About 3 degrees with a -5 windchill
Polar vortex 12 degree F 10mile run , 20mph wind and snow
Winter has not arrived in the Netherlands yet :( Coldest run so far was yesterday’s long run that I started at 1°C and got a little warmer at 4°C a few hours later when I finished the run. I would love to see some snow and ice soon and get outside and run for a few hours!!
i’m still waiting for the winter to come along in belgium
i did a bike ride on the F1 circuit of francorchamps at around freezing point, it was closed so there was no one there to tell me i wasn’t allowed to do so
120 km ride in 6am, 2 degrees (Celsius)
21 degree North Myrtle Beach SC 15k winter run on Jan 25th 2014. Annual 15k race here in NMB. 21 degree temp with 30 mile an hour gust winds. So it felt much colder than 21. It was miserable and slow! The winds were coming out of the south that day so the last 1.5 miles down ocean blvd were nothing but a headwind. Miserable way to end the race.
Ran 6 miles while light snow fell @ 20 degrees with combat boots on through rockefellar preserve trails in westchester ny
During the recent polar vortex, I was able to get out for a 6 mile run in -4F with a -25 windchill. No cars were allowed on the roads, per sheriff’s order, due to a snow emergency. It would have been eerily peaceful if it weren’t for the painful temperature.
I went for a long run last Sunday; I took hot water with me. By the time I got back home the water I had not drunk was frozen.
Last week I and my friends done a 13.5 km run. In the middle we were on top of a hill where the temperate showed -12’C.
The water temp has been pretty cold down for the Manly to Shelly beach swim. 21° celsius… 70° fahrenheit. Ok, so not that cold! Sorry for living in Australia!
Well, we really didn’t have a cold winter yet in the Netherlands.
So the coldest run this winter was around -2 degrees Celcius for about 15 km.
The de coldest running was in 4 degrees Celsius. It’s one of the warmest winters in The Netherlands :-)
A couple of weeks back went for my normal Sunday morning run and it was in the 20’s and very windy. Was dressed for the weather so it wasn’t too bad. It’s suppose to be in the 60’s this Sunday ;-)
Nothing crazy cold logged on the bike, worst was close to zero deg. C but most between 4 and 6 degrees. Positively balmy compared to the ice and snow experienced by others but try to tell my feet that after forgetting overshoes once or twice resulting in some very cold and painful piggys after 70 or 80km of training!
-15 run in the snow and ice, after 15 minutes, my breathing wS beginning to have a strident sound.
Still enjoyed it.
I live in Wisconsin and it has been COLD. Like so cold the kids have had three “snow” days because the wind chills were below -30 and they couldn’t send them outside to the bus.
Despite this, I live about 2 miles from my office and commute via bike or walking whenever I can. Just this week it was -5 when I left. My wife’s parting words “Don’t call me for a ride when you get penile frostbite”
Having said that, the coldest bike ride was early in the year when the high was five. The wind blew in my face the entire trip home and it got so cold I kept alternating a hand under my arm to try and stay warm. And then my pedal broke and fell of the bike. There I was, one handed and one footed biking home with sub zero wind chill. Fun times!
I don´t usually run/cycle during winter. But 10 degrees would be the minimum
Last week at Warsaw, Poland.
It was about -10°C degrees (14.00° Fahrenheit) and plenty of snow, very drifty and slippery and I having 17K run.
Last weekend… 20miles in 15F, about 0F with windchill. Lots of snow and ice too! Training for DC marathon so more long cold winter runs to come
Went for a run in -15C when visiting the parents close to the Arctic circle. Refreshing!
It’s not very cold in Portugal compared with other places, but is cold enough for me. I had 2º C this winter, with wind and rain.
-5 celsius on a nice winter evening. I must say, I love running in the cold!
18 degrees out before windchill in Maryland. Had to buy Yaktrax. Didn’t want to run but had Disney Marathon in a few weeks.
I live in Dallas so it doesn’t get too cold here. Coldest run was probably in the mid 30’s but then it started to rain…..so cold and wet doesn’t go too well….even in Dallas. :P
Coldest this winter has to be the aptly named Brass Monkey half marathon in York, UK. Had been injured for a few weeks leading up to it, so preparation wasn’t the best, but did somehow manage to pull out a new pb, finishing in 1:24, only to end up coming down for a week with flu and further aggravation to the knee injury. But it was worth it!
Fortunately we have a not that cold winter this time in The Netherlands. Though last sunday temperature dropped on a sunday morning ride to 2C which is doable. But not if there’s eastern wind which has a realfeel of about -3C. But then again if I see other tempuratures then I consider myself lucky. Though as an ice-skater, I can’t wait till it actually freezes :-)
I was doing a run last week in a -12’C (10’F).
Sorry everyone. Spoilt here in Oz this time of year. It was cool and raining 2 days ago though at 20 degrees C and took me 2 minutes longer to warm up for my 6am run!
Last weekend 10k Run through Warsaw city center and along river. Temp. -12 Celsius
This year is so far bad with sport, but at least weather is very moderate so far and I only did some cycling at around 0 degC… it’s one of the warmest winters in my life… (Denmark)
For the last month running in -10C-14C is the norm overhere (RIGA,Latvia) . However the coldest run for me was at -17C two days ago. Swimming as usual +27C. Haven’t dared to bike though.
I think for me, it had to have been yesterday. It was about -20 Celsius with the wind chill. I had a balaclava on, and it was so bad that the moisture from my breath was beginning to freeze on the side of my face that was facing the wind.
Oh, the joys of winter running.
Regaining my mental sanity from countless hours of indoor training was worth braving 10°F a couple weeks back… or so I thought. I discovered how inadequate my winter gloves were that day; my fingers ached for hours post-ride.
-10°C last weekend. I have to run 26km today at -2°C. brr
Minus a lot! I’m new to winter running but I found out that it’s actually not lethal.
Coldest run so far is -2F at the start if a run here in Bucks County, PA. The toughest though was a morning in the 20’s F where a friend and I hoped to sneak in 16 miles before bad weather hit. We drive to a local state park to run. Bad Move! About 5 miles in a light drizzle started which created a thick sheet if ice on everything! Yak traks were no match for this surface. Had to leave the cars in the park and slide home!!!
Went out for my usual 5 mile run but it was 15 degrees out didn’t bother to look at the windchill factor (-5). Before the first mile hands and feet were frozen and scrambled to cut my route short and it quickly turned into a run for my life! Ended up doing 3.41 miles but it took about an hour to get the feel back into my hands and feet! Never again!
Almost 4° during the Dopey Challenge preparation in Orlando, FL!
I running on mornings outside.
I hav eskymask and two pairs of gloves and then I have warm. usualy here -14 to -20degrees celisus, previous last weeks
I would love to go out for a long run with snow and cold temperatures, but I’m still waiting for the winter ;-)
Somehow it seems winter doesn’t want to arrive in the Netherlands this year…..
(I read some other replies above that winter isn’t here yet….)
Next week temp. will go up again :(
Coldest run for me was a 20 km. run at about 3 degrees Celcius.