Cleveland · Guide

Walking into that wind is a whole body brace

Wind off Lake Erie is a physical thing to walk into rather than a weather condition to dress for. Your whole body leans and braces against it, your head drops, your shoulders come up, and you hold that for as long as the walk lasts. A ten minute walk into it is a ten minute isometric hold you did not plan.

Bracing is work

Leaning into wind means your trunk muscles are working continuously to keep you upright and moving. That is genuine load, and it is why a short walk on a windy lakefront day leaves you feeling like you did more than you did.

Add a hood, which restricts your view and makes you turn your whole upper body to look sideways, and the neck joins in.

• Turn your head rather than your whole trunk when you can see well enough to.
• If a hood is blocking your view, a hat and a collar often beat a hood for keeping your neck neutral.
• Carry the bag on the sheltered side so you are not fighting the wind and the load in the same direction.

Ice underneath it

Wind plus ice means every step has a stabilising component, and the corrections come from your hips and lower back. That is the real reason winter walking is tiring in a way the distance does not explain.

Shorter steps, feet more underneath you, and no hands in pockets.

When it is worth talking to somebody

Feeling worked over after a windy walk is normal and passes. Worth a conversation with a qualified provider: neck pain present when you wake, anything travelling into an arm, numbness or tingling, or a slip that still hurts several days later.

If you actually went down on ice, get it looked at, particularly if you landed on an outstretched hand or your tailbone.

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