YELLOWKNIFE — As any top athlete knows, the best training regimens incorporate an element of brutality.

Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer prepares for big matches in the searing desert heat of Dubai. Sumo wrestlers wallop one another with baseball bats or bamboo swords to get fighting fit. Ex-NHL sharpshooter Pavel Bure was known for skating lap after lap trailing a parachute.

And then there's Lore-ann Krysko.

The 44-year-old government worker may not aspire to such lofty athletic heights, but that doesn't mean her training is any less severe. Ms. Krysko is a marathoner living in Yellowknife, where the mere act of stepping outside in running tights this time of year is a test of will.

“Those first couple minutes where you're thinking you aren't going to be warm enough are the worst,” says Ms. Krysko, who has won both the Yellowknife and Hay River, NWT, half-marathons. “But if you actually go through with it, it does make you psychologically tougher.”

Yellowknife's average January temperature hovers between lows around -30 C and highs around -20. Hypothermia can set in instantly. Exposed skin can freeze in a matter of minutes. And yet Yellowknife has become a city of runners.

Through a combination of sheer...

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• I love running in the winter and I just got back from...
• Tough, tough people - I'm impressed!
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