Would you rather run in extreme hot or extreme cold? (Page 3)

easy decision for me, I'm a FL boy born and raised. So, extreme heat!!

I grew up working out in the heat all day long (cutting timber, shoveling cow/horse $h1t, and pulling weeds in the garden) so it doesn't bother me a bit.

I'll take the dirty south any day over the frozen tundra which I consider to be pretty much anywhere where funny white stuff aka snow falls out of the sky.

Maybe it's placebo but when it's cold I just can't get loose.  Everything just tightens up, and I have no motivation to get outside.  On the other hand, I actually enjoy running in stifling heat.  I just make sure I stay well hydrated and mindful not to push too hard. 

I've only run in the "cold" (low 30's) a couple times, and noticed that I'd start out feeling fine and gradually get colder as the run went on.  Even after ~45 minutes, I still could not warm up.  Granted, I don't really have appropriate cold weather run gear....I hate being cold!

I'll take hot over cold any day!  Living in LA and Houston for the past seven years has made me even less cold-tolerant than I started.  So yeah, my vote is for hot!

About 15 years ago here in Chicago we were having a particularly bad heat wave where the humidity was basically a steam bath, and temperatures were hovering around 100 degrees.  It was one of those days where the heat was a news story.  There were warnings on the news that it was an "Ozone Action" day, telling us to stay indoors in air conditioning, don't do any strenuous activity outside, check on your neighbors, and drink plenty of fluids.  Local schools and police stations opened their doors as "cooling centers" for those who had no air conditioning.  Yea it was one of THOSE days.  I decide to go for a lunchtime run anyway.  So as I stop at this water fountain on the path I run on to take a quick drink, and I see a reporter with a photographer approaching me.  He's with the Chicago Tribune and interviewing random citizens... you know... asking stupid questions about how they are handling the heat.  So he's like "Do you mind if I interview you for the Tribune?"  Ummm SURE!  So he asks me a couple questions about why I'm crazy enoug to run in this heat, and takes my name and home town information... then the photographer snaps a picture of me while drinking from the fountain.  The problem is, I also put my face in the water to cool off and apparently he snapped the photo right when I was splashing water on my face.  Of course, the next day, right on the back cover of the main section of the Trib, a HUGE half page sized photo of me looking like the dork who pressed the button on the water fountain and accidentally got a face full of water... with my name and a caption about me running outside despite the oppressive heat.  I still have a copy of that paper. 

And that's my boring stupid story about running in excessive heat.    

There are pros and cons to both.

Cold:  I can go 8 miles without drinking or eating which is awesome.  No sunscreen needed (because I'm so bundled up even if there's sun it can't get through).

Cons:  Takes so freaking long to get it all on and off and lots more to wash.  It can get cold enough to get uncomfortable.  This year I have a new bike to get and the trip to  IMCDA, new pedals and cleats, etc, so it got cold enough that I didn't have the clothing to go outside.  Next winter I can spend a few hundred dollars more and get clothing that will get me through anything.  I wasn't able to bike or run under 45 this year.

Hot:  I'm personally made for heat, my body likes it.  As the heat increases, I hold my performance better than others.  I love temperatures over 100 degrees, the hotter the better.

Cons:  Sunscreen, all over, and reapplying.  More water needed so I can bike and run less miles with the same amount of water.

I've thought about this myself and I honestly can't make up my mind, so I will enjoy each for what they are and put up with the idiosyncracies of each.

After my run this morning as I was pulling off all the gear, rolling out my muscles and getting ready for work another BIG reason came to me regarding why I prefer extreme cold to extreme heat....  In the extreme heat I continue sweating long after the run...

I run mainly in the mornings before work, even at 5:30am on really humid days I continue to sweat long after the run which makes getting dressed for work awful....

Remember the OP talked about extremes and my vote is still cold...However 80 degrees with moderate humidity I'd take over 20 degrees almost always...

I'd be lying though if I said I didn't love the changing of the seasons...If I lived in an area that had the same predictable weather 95% of the year, I think I'd die of boredom....A previous poster said in the extreme cold he dreams of the heat and vice versa....That's me to some extent...

I do love jumping in my pool after a rough hard hot workout but if the humidity is high enough, even with air conditioning in the house, the sweat starts pouring again as I'm getting ready...

Long post over...

I agree on the changing of the seasons.  I live in Michigan too, and I think my favorite time of year to run is probably in early-mid October with the colors and when the temps are in say the 50s or low 60s (and it's not raining).  Well, that and that feeling in say March or April if it gets a bit warmer and I can take all the layers off for a run.

I'm in Northern Ontario.  We just had a harsh cold snap.

Ok, I'm going to amend my previous statement about preferring the cold.  Cold as long as it isn't accompanied by wind.  I was running today and the temp wasn't too bad, probably low 20s but during one portion I was running around a lake and the north wind coming off of there was rough.  No amount of bundling up can make that enjoyable.  Wind is to cold as humidity is to heat.