this is the first rigorous analysis of the effects of headwinds (and tailwinds) while running that I have seen…
A couple years ago I found myself running uphill into a 20-30mph wind in Wyoming’s Red Desert, with only a lonely sagebrush or so for company though no shelter. Pace dropped from 10-11min/mi to 15/16, which seemed exorbitant.
The calculator based on this analysis gave that exact number.
Find it at,
Some interesting bits from the analysis:
If you’re running at an equivalent effort, running into a headwind will slow you down by two or three times as much as the equivalent tailwind will speed you up. This is a natural consequence of the fact that air resistance scales with the square of the airflow velocity.
So the old saw is wrong as usual, you never get back on the swings what you lose on the roundabouts…
Source Drag coefficient (Cd) for a runner
Schickenhofer 2021 0.73
Marro 2023 0.90
Walpert 1989 0.79
Davies 1980 0.82–0.91
Pugh 1970 0.80These studies are a mix of experimental studies and computational fluid dynamics simulations, and all cluster around 0.8 or so (1,2). This range seems about right: better than an upright cyclist, worse than a time trial cyclist.
sort of way, either”