MERINO, OTHER FLAG
Icebreaker 200 Oasis Long Sleeve Crew
$$$ premium within winter gear
The other great merino base layer. The 200 weight is the versatile one — warm enough for deep winter under a shell, thin enough to run solo on those weird 0-degree gift days. Between this and the Smartwool it's genuinely a coin flip; owning one of each solves the laundry-cycle problem.
Best for: building a rotation so laundry day isn't a rest day
See price & details on Amazon.ca →Current price, sizes, flavours and full specs live on the Amazon listing.
Worth knowing about winter gear
- Cotton kills the vibe: it soaks up sweat, holds it against your skin, and turns kilometre six into a refrigeration experiment — merino or synthetic, always.
- Traction is for ice, not snow: fresh snow just needs your normal shoes and lower expectations, but the shiny grey stuff needs spikes.
- A headlamp beats reflective-only: reflective gear needs a driver's headlights to work, while a headlamp is visible from every angle and shows you the ice first.
- The treadmill isn't cheating: when it's freezing rain on glare ice, the runner who lives to train tomorrow wins — save the heroics for race day.
Also in winter gear
Kahtoola NANOspikesICE, SOLVED
Yaktrax Run Traction CleatsTHE GATEWAY SPIKES
Kahtoola MICROspikesFOR THE DEEP STUFF
Smartwool Classic Thermal Merino Base Layer CrewTHE -20 UNIFORM
Craft ADV Essence TightsLEGS, INSULATED
Gore Wear R5 GORE-TEX Insulated JacketTHE WIND TAXAs an Amazon Associate, RaceFinder earns from qualifying purchases made through links on this page. It doesn't change the price you pay, and it has never changed a pick.