I love walking. Because I “retired” from running in 2012 I had to find a replacement. I tried walking and loved it. As Forrest Gump might say: from then on . . . I. was. walking.

 

The mental and physical benefits I get from walking are second only to my weightlifting and require way less energy. My left knee and lower back don’t allow me to run for distance any longer. After I got out of the Marine Corps, the negatives outweighed the positives for running. It wasn’t worth it. And I hated it by the time I was done in the Marines. But I still need some sort of cardiovascular workout for heart health and weight control. So for a couple years I’ve walked. I try to make at least ten miles per week. Extrapolated over a whole year, that’d be over 500 miles.

 

But I never walked in the winter. Once the weather dropped below freezing, I focused on weightlifting and saved walking for summer and—primarily—Minnesota’s best season; fall. This year, my life changed a lot. I gained not only a wife but also a husky. And huskies need exercise. So I committed to continuing my walks into the winter not knowing how long I could make it. Would 25 °F be too cold? 18? 10? 5? -10? I had no idea.

 

Now that I’ve started doing winter walks, I cannot imagine going without them. There’s something magical about an early morning, cold walk while the world slumbers all around you. You feel more alert. More energetic.

 

My walks vary from two to five miles. Most often I get three miles done. On weekends, I can go for five. Right now, my morning workout schedule looks like this: Monday, Wednesday, Friday—Weightlifting. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday or Sunday—walk. On walking days, I wake up and brush my teeth quickly. I’ve weaned off of pre-walk coffee, so I let the dog out in the backyard to do her business—after all who want’s to hold a poop bag for a three mile walk? While she’s going to the bathroom, I dress. Here’s what I wear:

• Thorlo socks
• Danner United States Marine Corps Mojave Rugged All-Terrain (RAT) Gore-tex boots–leftovers from my time in the Marine Corps
• Cotton shorts–important layer for the windier days; my legs are never cold, but my “personal” parts need this extra layer
• Long underwear
• Sweatpants
• T-shirt
• Baseball t-shirt
• Hoodie sweatshirt–hood needed for “warmer” days (above 5 °F) since a scarf is overkill
• Dickies jacket
• Gloves
• Scarf
• Carhartt hunting hat or bomber hat

 

Then I hook the leash onto the dog and off we go. Note that before the list of benefits, I’ve only gotten down to a walk at -3 °F. I do not know how this will all stand up at, say, -15 °F. Now that I’ve been doing this for a while, here are some of the (admittedly anecdotal) benefits I’ve noticed:

• Increased toughness: It’s 5 a.m. and zero degrees outside. You throw on your cold weather clothes, grab the dog, and step out into the cold. The cold strikes your face, toes, and fingers all at once. You feel the cold. Your body is not warm yet. Everything in your brain screams at you to stay home. “It’s too cold,” you think. “I’ll go after work,” you lie to yourself. Instead you take the first step. Then another. Another. Slowly you warm up. By ten minutes in, you are aware of the cold, but you’re cruising. By halfway, you’re warm. In the last few minutes, you actually take off your gloves and pop your hat above your ears because you are sweating. In the hundreds of houses you’ve walked past, none had their lights on when you started. By the end of your three miles, maybe 20% of people are awake with lights on. “Morning,” you think, “welcome to the day!” “Welcome to my day.” I can’t scientifically state that cold weather morning walks make you a more mentally tough person, but cold weather walks require fortitude. They are tough, but—unlike most of life—the rewards start hitting you within one hour. Success begets more successes. And starting a day with a tough task sets you up for a great day. It’s just 6 a.m. now and you have momentum!

 

• More strategic: Most every time I walk I spend at least some time praying. After prayer, the rest of the walk is negotiable. Fun podcasts sometimes. Catholic podcasts other times. Historical podcasts. Audio books—both fiction and non-fiction. Increasingly, though, I don’t listen to anything. More and more I am enjoying simply strategizing and planning the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. Something about the cold gives me the clarity I need to do deep strategic, thinking. These aren’t lightning bolt-like strikes of genius. It’s more like clarity and visionary—I can’t really describe it, but I do ascribe at least some of my long-term planning and visions to the cold weather walks.

 

• Better sleep: For some reason I sleep like a champ when I am religious with my winter walks. I think spending three-to-five hours in the bitter cold per week while physically exerting myself saps my energy (in a good way) to where my body craves sleep. I must also confess that I normally fall asleep within a minute or two of putting my head on the pillow and sleep deep for the six following hours. So while I notice a greater depth to my slumber when walking, I’m not saying you should do some cold walks and expect to be a better sleeper. I’m not sure a light, poor sleeper would benefit from cold weather walking, but I suspect he or she would.

 

• Mental clarity: While I certainly sleep deeper and these walks “sap” my energy, I have noticed a marked increase in my mental clarity when I’ve been good about getting out on my walks. It’s hard to tell if this improvement is the result of winter walks or the other areas of my life I’ve changed, but there’s something about the smack of the cold in your face first thing in the morning that really jolts your system into action. Not only does it wake me up, but the cold seems to increase my brain’s focus, speed, and clarity. The only thing comparable is when I take cold water showers first thing in the morning.

 

• Solitude: I need my alone time. For a long time, I thought my time in the gym was my alone time. But, when lifting weights, I am focused and determined. An hour flies by with no real substantive thoughts outside of those necessary to do the work. Walking—especially the clarity that comes with cold weather morning walks—recharges me in a real way. Walking through a top 15 biggest metropolitan area in the U.S. where you might not see another person for a half hour is so refreshing. The low temperatures help me focus my mind and sort through the important things in life. I examine myself, think about my relationship with other people, and question my actions in light of my aspirational self like a prosecutor cross-examining a defendant. This reflection helps me treat other people better during the other 98% of my life when I am not walking—yes, I did the math, and I spend right around 2% of my life walking. Cold weather winter walking recharges me to be a better person by giving me the solitude I need to sort through my life.

 

• Focused prayer time: Making time for prayer is a newer thing for me. For years I really did not pray. Now I “pray,” but really I just struggle with the act of prayer. When I started praying again about two years ago, my mind began wandering almost immediately. I would catch myself thinking about work, upcoming plans, and plotting out my life. But praying while walking–especially in the cold–seems to clear this up. I spend the first 10-15 minutes of each walk in prayer. I listen to the daily Pray as You Go podcast episode and follow that up by praying for the people in my life. Then I close with specific intentions for me asking for strength and perseverance. This is a special, meaningful time in my day. The rhythm and cadence of the walk helps me to focus. Prayer is a work in progress for me, but I am learning that anything I can do to help is a good thing. Prayer does not need to happen in a church, on a kneeler, and with beautiful hymns playing. Praying on a cold winter morning’s walk is fine and good—especially because it works.

 

• My dog really loves me: I like independent dogs. I’m not a “dog person,” so I don’t implicitly loooooooove dogs. Independent dogs are great for me because they amuse themselves. But just because I am not a born-and-bred dog person does not mean I don’t love my dog. I do! It’s just that I don’t need constant affirmation to and from the dog of our love for each other. My wife’s dog Our dog is very independent. We play together when we both want to play. We wrestle when we both want. I scratch and massage her only when we both want. Forced affection in a non-starter for each of us. And not being a natural dog person, my love for her had to grow. Our fondness for each other is now immense. And that fondness and love has grown in leaps and bounds because we both like to work. And our morning cold weather walks are work. I have to check the temperature and bundle up to the correct level—not too hot and not too cold. I have to constantly scan the icy ground as we go for safe paths. I have to pay attention and navigate. Likewise, she approaches each step of the walk on a mission: potential squirrels to eat, new smells to discover, “is that a bunny or a chunk of ice?”, potential human friends and canine enemies, and—always—forward progress and exercise. Joking, petting, loving, wrestling, and massages are fine later, but now? Work. As soon as the walk is over, she’s head-over-heels in love with me. I can see it in her eyes. She conveys it through licks and kisses. Without a doubt, these walks have increased her trust, affection, loyalty, and love for me. Bad day at work? “How about a walk?” her eyes ask. Tired? “How about a walk?” he kisses seem to ask. 5 a.m? “It’s surely walk time, right?” It’s great. I love her; she’s more reliable than most people I know.

 

• Weight control: Controlling my weight is the reason I first started to walk for distance. Walking has become such a part of my life that I often forget about this fact. Walking and intermittent fasting coupled together is still my go-to step one when I need to lose weight. Cold weather walking seem to take this fat-burning to another level for me. I know some experts—I seem to remember Dr. Lonnie Lowery being a cold weather walking advocate—have pointed out that some studies suggest increased caloric use when walking in the cold, and it makes sense intuitively. When it’s cold, your body must burn more to stay warm—or at least that’s my working theory.

 

• Less sickness: I’m rarely sick anymore in general, and I think walking–whether in the cold or in the heat–plays a role in keeping me healthy. Cold weather walking has taken this to another level. This winter has been great health-wise. I’m not naïve enough to find causation here, but maybe some correlation exists. It seems counter-intuitive, but I do not believe being in the cold causes you to get colds. I am not sure that walking in the cold is making me unable to get sick, but I feel that I now fight off bugs faster. I am not at all sure that this can be scientifically proven, but I don’t necessarily need science to confirm it. Along with all the other benefits I notice for sure, this fringe benefit is icing on the (frozen!) cake.

 

As for those living in warm weather areas, you will have to find your version of early morning winter walks. If you live in the mountains, go run sprints up a hill or hike up a mountain while carrying a small pack. If you live by the beach, throw some weight on your back and go trudge through the sandy beach for three miles. Sure, any benefit to the cold weather part may elude you, but I’m sure these replacement activities have benefits (muscular development comes to mind) that walking in the cold does not offer. Experiment. Try different things until you find an activity that speaks to you. Until then, it’s forecasted to be -9 °F here in a few hours when I go on my walk. I can’t wait to get outside.

 

 

Update: Well, the walk is over and -10 °F proved easy. I set off at -10 °F with an extra scarf, extra pair of socks, and an extra set of gloves. By 1.5 miles in, I had a good amount of back and hand sweat. I ditched the extra set of gloves and, by the end of the walk, had to pop my hat up above my ears to cool down. It was “up” to -4 °F by the time I got home. There also was no wind chill and it was very sunny. I think -10 °F was easy, but I am not so sure if there had been wind. We shall see. Also a reminder: Never forget that, no matter how tough you think you are, there’s someone tougher. Today it was a 55 year-old woman who passed by me running–her face covered in frozen snot and breath.

Here’s how I looked at the end:

And here’s something you don’t see everyday in a major metropolitan area in front of an apartment building: