The JogBlog guide to overheating in winter

I’ve obviously become a complete wuss since moving to Kent. In London, it’d have to be at least minus-something before I even slightly pondered wearing long sleeves. This morning, although it was 9 degrees, I put on long sleeves, my Hippsy, my touchscreen gloves and because the top I was wearing had a rather wide neck, my Buff.

buff

I’d worn my Buff a few days ago on my bike. It’s great on a bike if you don’t like strangling yourself by doing your jacket right up, they keep the draught out perfectly. And if you don’t mind looking a bit of a div, you can pull it up over your nose to keep the chill off your mouth. You can even wear it on your head. In fact, there are so many ways to wear a Buff, when you buy one, they’ll send you a booklet and a DVD demonstrating all the different ways.

Today’s run was a 2.5 miler to see how unfit I was. It was also to make me feel slightly less bad about the scales showing me in the dreaded double figures for the first time ever. I had been expecting it – I haven’t exercised properly for weeks and I’ve been eating and drinking loads, the weight didn’t come on by accident. Still, marathon training and Janathon should sort that out. Won’t it?

Stats:
Distance: 2.5 miles-ish
Time: 30 minutes-ish
Pace: Slow
Walking breaks: 0 (yay)
Long sleeve tops: 1
Hippsys: 1
Pairs of touchscreen gloves: 1
Buffs: 1
Too many pieces of clothing: 3
Digits on the scales: Double
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The JogBlog guide to keeping warm in winter

Obviously, the best way to keep warm is to stay in bed, but if you’re hardcore like me, and do venture out into the early morning frost, then you’re going to need something more than a skimpy pair of Speedos.

Today, I put on my new Canterbury base layer.

canterbury-running-top

It’s thick, warm and comfy as well as having that technical stuff that wicks the sweat away. It’s also skin-tight and therefore prone to riding up (as I found out when I sat down to put my socks on) but, hurrah for the Hippsy!

What’s a Hippsy? A Hippsy is an elasticated piece of cotton, similar to a boob-tube in appearance but you wear it round your waist to protect you from the cold when your top rides up, exposing bits you don’t want to expose. 

hippsy-red

It’s ideal if you need an extra layer of warmth but don’t want to bulk up with too many clothes.

hippsyMy Canterbury base layer, long tights, Hippsy and touchscreen gloves were all I needed in this morning’s minus-whatever weather to keep me warm.