Managing running through water/mud - tips

[waistchallenge]

There's been so much rain it feels like everywhere's been waterlogged for months.

I run about 70% on the road and the rest on paths and tracks etc. Even some of the roads I regularly run on have had standing water for weeks, though, that you gave to run through (single track, no pavement).

Does anyone have any tips for how they handle this?

This is a "shoes off indoors" household so I have some crocs that I wear from the front door to the shower. I also have a bucket by the shower to put muddy running tights in directly, because I don't want to get mud in the bathroom floor.

Still I feel my sports clothes may be not truly clean as I run near farms that spread slurry etc. or the roads are flooded with God knows what.

If anyone has any other tips I'd be grateful. It's becoming a bit off-putting but organisation isn't my strong point.

That sounds pretty organised to me.

What are you wanting to manage? The amount of mud that gets spread in your house or avoiding mud and puddles?

If my shoes get wet and muddy, then I bang them together outside after my run to get the excess off, maybe Boot Buddy them, and stuff them with newspaper to help the inside dry quicker.

Also consider alternative routes that tend to get flooded or excessively muddy in the rain.

What are you wanting to manage? The amount of mud that gets spread in your house or avoiding mud and puddles?

I suppose I don't want to create lots of cleaning or ruin things in the house. I've ruined a pair of trainers already, they just are beyond cleaning. I don't like the thought of dog poo or slurry going through the house.

My trainers tend to be soaked through so I wouldn't even bang them together really because it would just spray dirty water everywhere.

The dream would be to have a ground floor shower room that I could just go straight in!

I hose my trainers (and lower legs) down outside - thoroughly. Prop them up to drip dry a bit outside, then bring them inside a dry on a radiator (protected by an old towel and not left on too long). Usually take my socks off outside and put sliders straight on too

Oooh, taking socks off outside might be a good idea. It's been a bit chilly for that but might be OK now.

Socks and shoes off at the door.

If I'm soaking wet (ie dripping if it's raining) I also strip to my underwear at the door.

Boot buddy to clean trainers and then pop on a heated shoe dryer. We have a lot of muddy and wet trainers and boots in our house.

I do cyclocross (basically the most muddy of cycling, where sometimes it gets too boggy with mud to ride and you have to get off and run while carrying your bike). Take shoes off outside and put on flip flops. Pressure wash shoes, let them drip dry outside while you shower (I strip by the washing machine, plus the kitchen is tiled so easy to mop) then go and get shoes, stuff with newspaper and put near the downstairs bathroom radiator. Shoes wear out before I deem them ‘beyond cleaning’ though of course they are not the same shade they were from the shop.

You do also need to accept a little bit that you do an outdoor sport in the winter and a bit of mud and nature is OK, and you can mop a floor if it’s really bad. Meant in the nicest way, the steps above go 90% of the way but you probably need to unclench the other 10% or run on a treadmill somewhere in the winter. It’s really honestly fine to spray the mud off your shoes onto the garden whilst you wash them.

My front door is quite sheltered so I've been known to strip crusty leggings off on the doorstep and carry through, and more often socks. If trainers are getting older anyway, I've been known to put them through a gentle 15 min rinse on the washer if they're totally gross. Showering them tends to get most crap out anyway.

Gross stuff goes straight to the washer/ utility room.