Barefoot in cold weather for short periods.

[Mark Halstead]

So I walk from my house to my gym (all concrete) and workout barefoot. They gym is cooled and heated. The walk is probably 30 seconds plus the time to lock the house door and unlock the gym door, which means I should be OK walking in sub freezing temperatures in just my t- shirt and shorts. Last year 24 F was the coldest and it was in late February as that is when I started to not wear shoes around the outside of my house. I am hoping it gets much colder than 24 F as I want to find my cold tolerance and know it is just 30 seconds from warm house to warm home gym.

I did take a 2 hour hike on a light coating of snow earlier this year and it felt great, however, the rest of my body was appropriately protected from the cold.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I take it you live right next door to the gym?

 

[Mark Halstead]

Yes. It is my own personal gym that is right beside our driveway.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Hahaha! I thought so!

 

[Mark Halstead]

It was 39 F this morning when I walked from the house to my home gym. It felt good on the feet. The rest of me was a little cold (workout shorts and short sleeve shirt). I will still want to wear a coat when it is much colder, but the feet can take it in the low 20 F range based on last year. It never got colder than 23 F during my barefoot start, so I don’t know my minimum limit yet. I did walk for 30 minutes at 24 F and was fine. The trick is everything else is bundled up so blood flow is diverted to the feet, which won’t be the case for my 15 to 20 second walk as I have no place in my gym to hang a bunch of stuff.

 

[Mark Halstead]

It was 37 F when I was walking from the gym to the house. Walked through the dew covered grass for a really cold foot acclimation. It takes time to recondition my feet for really cold.

 

[Mark Halstead]

I timed it and it is 1 minute to lock the house door, walk to the home gym and unlock that door. I do it in workout shorts and a sleeveless shirt, barefoot of course. This morning it was 15 F outside and it was fine. No issues. I really think I could do it a 0 F.

I did scrape the vehicle ice barefoot and it was really tough to scrape!!! I did have to take a break in the vehicle as I obviously was not moving much when scraping ice. I did have a coat on, so only my feet, hands and face were cold. It was great!!!

 

[Clark]

25°F is my self-imposed limit for park walks. As long as my hands, head and core are warm, my feet are fine for an hour or so.

We had a freaky cold front last winter that brought the air temp down from pleasant 40s to 12°F in a couple of hours with a howling wind that took the wind chill to below -15°F. This is extreme for Arkansas, so I had to give it a try. I bundled up and walked up and down my street, never more than 200 yds from my house until I had 1 km, a respectable short walk. It was uncomfortable but not unbearable for maybe 10 minutes. While I don't recommend this kind of silliness, it's nice to know what's possible.

Good luck with your continuing cold weather experimentation!

 

[Mark Halstead]

New level of cold as expected with 3-4 inches of snow. 15 degrees and walking through the snow on the ground. It was still good, but obviously colder than my previous 15 degree record with a dry ground.

It is supposed to get to 12, 8 and 4 as morning lows on workout days in the next week. They are actually in that order, so we will see how it goes. I can always turn around and go back into the house for shoes if it is too cold.

 

[Clark]

1.35 Mi on 3" of snow at 19°F with wind chill at 9°F. It's fun to do things that others think impossible.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

New level of cold as expected with 3-4 inches of snow. 15 degrees and walking through the snow on the ground. It was still good, but obviously colder than my previous 15 degree record with a dry ground.

It is supposed to get to 12, 8 and 4 as morning lows on workout days in the next week. They are actually in that order, so we will see how it goes. I can always turn around and go back into the house for shoes if it is too cold.

1.35 Mi on 3" of snow at 19°F with wind chill at 9°F. It's fun to do things that others think impossible.

I wish it snowed here. It used to. When I moved to Georgia in October of 1991, there was 6 inches of snow on the ground. Now, we're lucky if we get a dusting.

 

[Mark Halstead]

It was 6 F this morning with -5 F wind chill. I walked around the house in 4.5” of snow in shorts and barefoot, but I did have a coat on my upper body. That is 2.5 times my normal walk to the gym. That is my limit with snow. Without snow, I could go colder for that 2-3 minutes. Yesterday at 15 degrees through the same snow, I was able to move firewood from storage to the front porch barefoot. I did have to come inside half way through unloading the wheel barrow to warm up since it was more like 15 -20 minutes through 4.5” of snow. I would like to see lower than 6 F without snow to find my limit, because it is definitely less than 6 degrees.

 

[Clark]

1.35 Mi on 3" of snow at 19°F with wind chill at 9°F. It's fun to do things that others think impossible.

Between shoveling my driveway and walking in snow, I overdid it and got frostbite on ONE TOE. Embarrassing.

 

[Mark Halstead]

It was 27 F today and I shoveled it barefoot. It took me an hour to get it shoveled as it is a three car driveway. I moved firewood to the front porch too. The snow is 6” deep and it was fun! I am done and inside now warming up. My wife thinks I am crazy and I am sure the jeep and truck that drove by probably thought I was nuts.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Between shoveling my driveway and walking in snow, I overdid it and got frostbite on ONE TOE. Embarrassing.

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

It was 27 F today and I shoveled it barefoot. It took me an hour to get it shoveled as it is a three car driveway. I moved firewood to the front porch too. The snow is 6” deep and it was fun! I am done and inside now warming up. My wife thinks I am crazy and I am sure the jeep and truck that drove by probably thought I was nuts.

 

[Mark Halstead]

9 degrees this morning for my 1 minute walk over residual snow on the driveway. No problem. Not something I could do for extended minutes in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. I tell my wife to come out and find me if I don’t text with in a couple of minutes.

 

[Mark Halstead]

So sad the snow is melting. I really love walking in it barefoot.

 

[Clark]

Pics or it didn't happen.

Nobody wants to see this! It looks worse than it is. The blister was spectacular and popped on its own. Now it's just a deep bruise under the thick pad skin. My concern is that it happened to this one toe and I had no other problems on either foot. So what's going on that made this toe so vulnerable?

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Nobody wants to see this! It looks worse than it is. The blister was spectacular and popped on its own. Now it's just a deep bruise under the thick pad skin. My concern is that it happened to this one toe and I had no other problems on either foot. So what's going on that made this toe so vulnerable?

View attachment 10822

Can I say, "PUKE!" You poor thing, you! Geez! Thanks for sharing...I think!