Winter can feel like a season of compromise for runners—shorter days, colder temperatures, and fewer races on the calendar. But this quieter period in the running year isn’t a time to slow down or coast. It’s an opportunity to focus on the foundational aspects of your training that can transform your performance when spring races arrive. Winter offers a unique chance to address your weaknesses, sharpen your strengths, and build a foundation for your best running year yet.
By approaching the season with intention, you can emerge from the cold months not just maintaining your fitness but elevating it. Here are three key areas to focus on this winter to become a stronger, faster, and more resilient runner.
Build a Strong Aerobic Base
The cold months are ideal for focusing on building your aerobic base, the foundation of all successful endurance training. This means running at a slower, steady pace to improve cardiovascular fitness, develop durability in your muscles, and strengthen connective tissues like ligaments and tendons. While most of your runs should be low intensity during this phase, it’s important not to lose touch with faster efforts entirely. Incorporating occasional strides, hill repeats, or short tempo segments helps maintain neuromuscular coordination and speed without disrupting the base-building process.
Building an aerobic base also has profound mental and emotional benefits. Winter runs offer the perfect excuse to get outside and soak up natural light, which is essential for maintaining mood and energy levels during shorter days. The fresh air and quiet surroundings can be a source of peace, helping you reconnect with the joy of running while reducing stress.
To safely build your base, gradually increase your weekly mileage, ensuring you don’t exceed a 10% increase from week to week to minimize injury risk. Include one long run each week, ideally lasting 60 to 90 minutes or more at an easy, conversational pace. These runs will improve your endurance and prepare you for more demanding training in the spring.
Prioritize Strength and Mobility Training
Winter is the ideal time to address any muscle imbalances, weaknesses, or tightness that could lead to injuries during high-volume training. Strength training improves your body’s ability to handle the repetitive stress of running and enhances your efficiency by strengthening key muscle groups like your glutes, hamstrings, and core. Mobility training complements this by improving your range of motion and ensuring you can move fluidly, particularly in areas critical to efficient running mechanics—like hip extension.
Hip extension, the backward movement of the leg powered by the glutes and hamstrings, is a key component of an efficient running stride. It allows you to generate power and forward momentum with each step. However, tight hip flexors—a common issue for runners who spend long hours sitting—can limit this movement, leading to inefficient strides and overcompensation by other muscle groups. This imbalance can increase your risk of injuries, particularly in the lower back, knees, and shins. Improving hip extension through mobility work and targeted strength exercises helps unlock your stride’s full potential, allowing for smoother, more powerful running.
Beyond improving performance, strength and mobility training provide benefits that extend into daily life. Stronger muscles improve posture, reduce fatigue on long runs, and make everyday tasks like climbing stairs or carrying groceries easier. Mobility exercises help reduce tightness and increase flexibility, giving you a better range of motion while aiding recovery after tough workouts.
You don’t need hours in the gym to see results. Two or three short sessions per week focused on exercises like squats, single-leg deadlifts, and planks can make a big difference. Pair these with dynamic stretches and mobility drills, such as leg swings, lunges with a twist, and foam rolling for your hip flexors, to improve hip extension and overall movement. By making these practices a regular part of your routine, you’ll build resilience, reduce injury risk, and enhance your stride efficiency—setting yourself up for long-term success.
Refine Your Running Technique
The winter months are also a great time to refine your running form. With fewer races and less intense training, you can shift your attention to improving your mechanics. One of the most impactful aspects to focus on is cadence—the number of steps you take per minute. I believe athletes should aim for an average cadence of around 180 steps per minute (SPM). While your base runs or recovery runs may naturally fall slightly below this, your high-intensity efforts and races should generally reach or exceed this benchmark.
The world’s best runners consistently maintain cadences between 180 and 200 SPM during races. From a physics perspective, a higher cadence reduces the time your foot spends on the ground, minimizing braking forces that slow you down. It also encourages a lighter, midfoot strike, which reduces impact forces and improves running efficiency. These small adjustments can have a big impact, both in terms of speed and injury prevention.
To better understand your current mechanics, consider having a professional run analysis completed. This evaluation can reveal inefficiencies in your stride, such as uneven step lengths or an over-reliance on heel striking, and provide actionable insights to address them. During your training, incorporate drills like high knees, A-skips, and butt kicks to reinforce proper technique and help you naturally increase your stride rate. Over time, these small improvements will make running feel smoother and more efficient.
Conclusion
Winter running is more than just braving cold mornings or trudging through snow—it’s a chance to transform your training and set the stage for your best season yet. By focusing on building a strong aerobic base, prioritizing strength and mobility training (especially hip extension), and refining your running technique, you’ll not only maintain your fitness but elevate it.
This season is a gift for runners willing to embrace it. When spring arrives, and you toe the line at your first race, you’ll feel the payoff of the work you’ve done. Winter isn’t the time to settle—it’s the time to prepare, grow, and push forward. Lace up, step outside, and start building the foundation for the runner you want to become.
Derek Stone is a USAT Level 2 and Ironman Certified coach with a proven track record of developing athletes at all levels—from beginners to national champions and professional triathletes. Whether you’re just starting out or aiming for the podium, Derek and the Working Runner team are here to help you reach your goals. If you’re interested in personalized 1:1 coaching or becoming part of a supportive community, don’t hesitate to reach out!