IT’S BEEN A BIT NIPPY OUTSIDE, as those of you in the Midwest may have noticed, and at under 30 degrees, my running gloves just cannot keep my hands warm. I have Brooks mittens that do the job, but I could not find them. My daughter, who also runs, dug around in her car and came up with – one of them. As a logician might say, that is necessary but not sufficient. But the Saturday morning temperature at group run was 10 degrees, so I took it along.

I wore the mitten on my left hand, with a double glove on my right. After one mile my left hand was comfortable enough, while the fingers on my right were nearly numb. Clearly better protection was needed, so it was off to Running Fit (running, naturally) to buy a new pair of mittens. At the store, someone was asking the clerk what one wears for a winter run. Unlike for summer running, answering that question is not so easy.

There’s a surprisingly large number of cold-weather clothing options these days, and like with running shoes, much depends on the particular runner. How quickly do you warm up? Are you acclimated to the cold? How far are you running? How fast will you be going? Even at the same temperature and wind conditions, people choose very different outfits. However, the basic principle is the same: dress in layers.

For example, here is what I wore today, an easy pace with the temperature around 30 degrees and not much wind. The blue shirt was next to my skin, what runners call the “base layer”, with the long sleeve on top of it. No special needs here, just two regular running shirts. Then the blue windbreaker (see below) as the jacket. Wind briefs and tights for the lower body, medium socks, hat, and gloves made up the rest. In this outfit I was actually a bit too warm and unzipped the jacket for the second half of the run.

By contrast, this outfit was what I wore yesterday morning. Still two layers, but the base layer was long sleeve and the top shirt is a “thermal” – thicker, with a tighter weave. On top was the yellow jacket, which has an extra lining to keep out more wind and rain. (It’s also a good all-season cycling jacket.) This combination works down into the single digits for me. In fact, the red shirt is so warm that many runners in our group don’t use a jacket with it. The headgear is a balaclava, which can be worn in many configurations from hat-like to covering the entire face. Also note the thicker socks.

If it’s really cold, I can double up on the tights and use the hooded red jacket, which is specifically designed for winter running. It’s surprisingly light and comfortable for how warm it keeps me – so warm, in fact, that I have to use it carefully to avoid sweating too heavily.

Everything, including the wind briefs, is a synthetic material designed to wick moisture away from the skin. As we say in the running world, “Cotton is rotten” because it retains moisture. Thus you can get soaked on the inside from sweating, which in cold weather is potentially dangerous. So if you want to try winter running, that’s great, but please don’t do it in sweatshirt and jeans. Spend a few bucks and get the right gear. It makes a huge difference.

Ah, you say, but isn’t there one piece of critical gear missing? Quite so – I haven’t mentioned the shoes. In general, I like to wear lightweight shoes most of the year. For the cold and snow, however, I use something a bit sturdier. I recently bought two new pairs, one of which has an unusual feature I’m still trying to figure out if I like. More to come.