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This may come down to personal preference but there are many reasons why Winter presents runners an incredible opportunity to improve their performance ... if you can dodge the rain ...
It all comes down to 'cardiac drift' - cardiac drift is essentially the escalation in our heart rate if we maintain a relatively constant level of exercise ... and cardiac drift is less apparent in Winter than other seasons.
Obviously when we run, we sweat - as we sweat our blood volume decreases so in order to maintain the same level of exercise our heart has to beat faster - and as this happens we begin to fatigue. This is what cardiac drift is.
In Winter due to lower temperatures and less effect from the sun we dont sweat as much - therefore we dont get the effects of cardiac drift as much as in other seasons. This quite often opens up the oportunity to run further and harder than we might be able to in the heat of summer.
As a consequence, if you are diligent, it's quite normal to exit Winter much fitter than you started - and running more will help keep off those kilos from all the Winter warmer foods we consume !
What better way to get warm in Winter than going for a decent run ?
Craig Ellis
Running Physio