Does Cold Weather Affect Running Performance?

For many runners, cooler weather is when running starts to feel easier.

The heat and humidity of summer have disappeared, you are no longer finishing every run drenched in sweat, and maintaining your usual pace can suddenly require less effort.

But there is a difference between cool weather and cold weather.

As temperatures continue to fall, the conditions that initially helped your running can begin to work against you. Muscles take longer to warm up, maintaining body temperature becomes more demanding and cold, dry air can make harder efforts uncomfortable for some runners.

So, does cold weather affect running performance?

Yes — but not necessarily in the way you might expect.

Key Takeaways

• Cool conditions can be favourable for endurance running because the body has less excess heat to dissipate.

• As conditions become genuinely cold, falling muscle temperature can affect muscle function and running performance.

• Wind and rain can make a relatively moderate temperature considerably more demanding by increasing heat loss.

• A proper warm-up becomes increasingly important before faster running in cold conditions.

• Cold, dry air can irritate the airways, particularly during harder efforts when breathing rates increase.

• How much the cold affects your running depends on the temperature, weather conditions, intensity and duration of the run — as well as how well you are dressed for them.

Why Running Can Feel Easier in Cool Weather

Running generates a considerable amount of heat.

Your body has to get rid of that heat to prevent core temperature rising too far, which is why running in warm conditions can feel disproportionately difficult. More blood is directed towards the skin to help dissipate heat and sweating increases, adding to the physiological demands of maintaining your pace.

Cooler conditions reduce some of that thermal strain.

That is one reason why a crisp autumn morning can feel so good for running. You are producing plenty of heat through exercise, but the environment is helping you lose it.

There is therefore no contradiction between saying that cool weather can support endurance performance and that cold weather can eventually impair it.

The important question is where one becomes the other.

There is no single temperature at which that happens for every runner. Wind, rain, clothing, running speed, body size and how long you are outside all influence how quickly you lose heat.

A still, dry run at 5°C is a very different proposition from running at the same temperature into a strong wind and driving rain.

What Happens to Your Muscles When You Run in the Cold?

Your muscles work best when they are warm.

As muscle temperature rises during a warm-up, a number of processes involved in muscular contraction and movement become more effective. This is one reason why most runners instinctively feel stiffer during the first few minutes of a cold-weather run.

If the environment is sufficiently cold for muscle temperature to fall, the effects become more significant. Research into exercise in cold environments has shown that reductions in muscle temperature can affect force production, contraction speed and power.

For an easy run, you may barely notice.

For intervals, hill repetitions, a hard tempo run or a race, it can matter considerably more.

This is also why standing around in shorts waiting for the start of a winter race is not ideal preparation. The warm-up has a job to do, but you also need to retain the heat you have generated until you start running.

Does Cold Weather Make You Run Slower?

It can — but the thermometer alone does not determine your pace.

At moderately cool temperatures, endurance performance may actually be better than it is in warm conditions because the body can dissipate exercise-generated heat more effectively.

As the temperature falls further, the balance begins to change.

If your body is losing heat faster than your running is producing it, maintaining muscle temperature becomes more difficult. Blood vessels near the skin constrict to reduce heat loss, exposed areas become colder and movement can begin to feel less fluid.

The effect is particularly relevant during longer periods outside, lower-intensity running and sessions where you repeatedly stop and start.

A continuous steady run generates heat fairly consistently. A track session with long recoveries, for example, can leave you cooling down between efforts.

So rather than thinking of cold weather as automatically making you slower, it is more useful to think in terms of cold stress.

The greater the cold stress, the more likely it is to affect performance.

Temperature Is Only Part of the Story

One of the easiest mistakes to make when preparing for a winter run is looking at the temperature and ignoring everything else.

Wind matters.

Rain matters.

And the combination of the two can matter considerably more than either on its own.

Moving air increases heat loss from the body, which is why a strong winter wind can make conditions feel dramatically colder. Wet clothing can compound the problem by reducing its ability to insulate you effectively.

This is particularly relevant in a British winter, where the challenge is often not extreme sub-zero temperatures but the combination of cold, wind and rain.

What you wear for winter running therefore needs to account for more than temperature alone.

The forecast might say 7°C. That does not mean every 7°C run will place the same demands on your body.

Why Warming Up Matters More in Cold Weather

We are not suggesting that every easy winter run needs an elaborate warm-up routine.

For many easy runs, simply starting gently and allowing the pace to build naturally may be enough.

Harder running is different.

If you are planning intervals, hill repetitions, a tempo session or a race, starting with cold muscles and immediately asking them to produce high levels of force makes little sense.

Give yourself enough time to raise muscle temperature progressively before increasing the intensity.

And remember that warming up is only half of the equation. If you complete your warm-up and then stand around for ten minutes before the session or race begins, some of what you have just achieved will be lost.

On particularly cold days, keeping an additional layer on during the warm-up and removing it shortly before starting can be a simple solution.

Does Breathing Cold Air Affect Running?

For some runners, this is the most noticeable effect of running in cold weather.

Cold winter air is generally dry. During harder running, when breathing becomes faster and deeper, the airways have to warm and humidify a much larger volume of incoming air.

That can contribute to airway irritation and may trigger exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in susceptible runners. Symptoms can include coughing, wheezing, chest tightness or unusual shortness of breath during or after exercise.

It does not mean that breathing cold air is inherently dangerous for every runner. But runners with asthma or a history of exercise-induced breathing problems may find hard sessions in cold, dry conditions considerably more challenging.

If cold-weather running repeatedly causes wheezing, chest tightness or breathing difficulties beyond what you would normally expect from the effort, it is worth seeking appropriate medical advice rather than simply assuming that being out of breath is part of winter running.

What About Running in the Rain and Wind?

Cold rain deserves particular respect.

Being wet increases heat loss, while wind continually removes the warmer layer of air around your body. Combine the two and conditions can become uncomfortable surprisingly quickly.

The effect becomes more noticeable when your heat production falls — perhaps because you have slowed down, stopped at a road crossing, finished a hard session or had to walk because of an injury.

That is why what you wear for winter running should not simply be based on how warm you expect to feel once you are ten minutes into the run.

You also need to consider the conditions you may encounter and what happens if you have to slow down or stop.

Can You Adapt to Running in Cold Weather?

To an extent, experience helps.

Runners who regularly train through winter generally become better at judging what to wear, how much warm-up they need and how their own body responds to different conditions.

That practical experience is valuable.

But becoming accustomed to running in winter does not make you immune to the physiological effects of cold. Research into whether cold acclimatisation itself meaningfully protects exercise performance remains limited.

There is therefore little reason to deliberately make yourself cold in the belief that it will make you a stronger runner.

The objective is not to prove how little clothing you can tolerate.

It is to create conditions in which your body can perform the work you are asking it to do.

Should You Change Your Running Pace in Cold Weather?

Not automatically.

If it is a cool, dry and relatively still day, you may find that running at your normal pace feels easier than it would in warmer weather.

If it is genuinely cold, wet or windy, chasing a predetermined pace regardless of the conditions can be counterproductive.

Training pace is an output, not the purpose of every session.

If you are running into a strong headwind or your muscles are struggling to stay warm, the same physiological effort may produce a slower pace. That does not necessarily make it a worse training session.

Use the conditions as part of the information available to you rather than pretending they do not exist.

Cold Weather Is Not the Enemy

Running in cold weather does not need to be something you simply endure until spring.

Cool conditions can be excellent for endurance running, and many runners find them far more comfortable than training in summer heat.

Problems arise when cool becomes cold enough to affect the body's ability to maintain temperature, particularly when low temperatures are combined with wind, rain or prolonged exposure.

Dress appropriately. Give yourself longer to warm up when the session demands it. Pay attention to the conditions rather than the temperature alone.

And perhaps most importantly, do not judge every winter run by the number on your watch.

Sometimes the weather is part of the training.

References

1. Castellani, J.W. & Tipton, M.J. (2016). Cold Stress Effects on Exposure Tolerance and Exercise Performance. Comprehensive Physiology, 6(1), 443–469.
2. Gatterer, H., Dünnwald, T., Turner, R., Csapo, R., Schobersberger, W., Burtscher, M., Faulhaber, M. & Kennedy, M.D. (2021). Practicing Sport in Cold Environments: Practical Recommendations to Improve Sport Performance and Reduce Negative Health Outcomes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(18), 9700.
3. Sandsund, M., Saursaunet, V., Wiggen, Ø., Renberg, J., Færevik, H. & van Beekvelt, M.C.P. (2012). Effect of Ambient Temperature on Endurance Performance While Wearing Cross-Country Skiing Clothing. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 112, 3939–3947.
4. Wakabayashi, H., Oksa, J. & Tipton, M.J. (2015). Exercise Performance in Acute and Chronic Cold Exposure. Journal of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine, 4(2), 177–185.