I've been a bit lost in terms of aerobic exercise choices now that we're back in Finland. There's no ice or snow trails yet so skating or skiing is out of the question. The trails have a thin layer of show and ice that makes running a very uncomfortable experience even without my history of calf muscle problems. The winter will be over when I get my bicycle here so I needed an outdoor activity for the typical neither here nor there winter weather that's so typical for Southern Finland.
Winter running has been gaining in popularity and there are more brands now selling shoes with metal studs in the soles. The nearby sports superstore had Salomon Spikecross 3 CS shoes on sale so I got these yesterday. I went to the store wearing pretty thick socks not to buy them in too small a size for colder conditions.
I went for a test run this morning and the first real challenge came almost immediately as there was a north-facing wet and icy downslope early on on the run that would've been impossible to even walk down with normal running shoes. I didn't even have to concentrate on each step - once I trusted the grip was there I could run completely normally. Packed snow that's turned into ice is still not a perfect running surface as it's uneven and very hard, but dealing with that is a lot easier when the grip is always there.
Otherwise exercising in the cold felt OK, but going out was a messy affair. I put too much clothes on for the zero degree temperature and kept remembering stuff I had forgotten as I was going out the door. This is a bigger problem with the metal spike studded shoes than normal, because walking with those inside will immediately kill the hardwood floors - you have to either crawl on all fours or remove the shoes and feel ridiculous either way :-).
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