On the coldest days, though, I would advocate warming up a bit indoors if you can – do some press-ups, sit-ups or squats, or run up and down the stairs – otherwise outside will feel very cold indeed, and you may succumb to the temptation to go out dressed in far too much.

Don’t freeze, of course – getting out of the door is hard enough without knowing you’re going to suffer for the first few minutes – but do recognise that you will warm up pretty quickly, even if you feel a little cold at first.

You can always wear an outer layer that you can tie round your waist after the first mile or so.

Running outdoors is also far better for you than pounding the treadmill: the variations of the surface force your muscles and joints to work harder to accommodate the subtle changes, conditioning your body from every angle and in every plane; and the hills, the headwinds, the grass and the mud will demand more too, making you burn more calories than on that oh-so-predictable treadmill.

Shorter days do mean that you are more likely to have to run in the dark, and, if so, you should take sensible safety precautions.

Many modern tracksuits, jackets, leggings and running shoes have hi-vis or reflective panels, and there are very effective head torches available, as well as lights that you can clip onto your back and front.

All of these will warn traffic of your presence.

You should also choose your route with the lighting conditions in mind. At night, running on lit pavements in town may be less attractive than jogging along quiet, leafy country lanes, but it is safer in suburbia.

Females, in particular, for obvious reasons, should try to avoid running alone in remote locations.

We’ve looked at the advantages of continuing to run outside, and the differences you need to consider in winter – clothing, routes – which brings us finally to motivation.

Some runners love the dark, when they feel they are alone in the world; for others, it’s just another barrier to getting out of the door. Some embrace the cold, because they hate the really hot weather; many feel the opposite.

You can’t really do much about the time of day you have to run, or the temperature and the weather you encounter, but there are lots of simple ways to make getting out of the door that bit easier.

It can be as straightforward (if you’re running the morning) as get up, get dressed, ablutions, glass of water, 10 press-ups, out the door. But even something this obvious will have the effect of making your run more inevitable – you do this, you do that, so of course your run follows!

Do all you can to prepare. When I have a particularly demanding session to do the next morning, I get everything ready the night before (I sound like my mum) – my kit is laid out (I even put my left and right socks the correct way round!), I get my contact lenses out of the box, the kettle is filled, new batteries in my head torch, my shoes are at the bottom of the stairs.

It may sound silly, but, as some supermarket says, every little helps.

It is all too easy to find reasons not to run, so I remove every possible obstacle between me and my workout.

As I said before, when it is cold, it will help to warm up indoors – do some simple exercises, just to get the blood flowing, especially first thing in the morning.

Doing the exercises will itself propel you into the run.

If motivation is still a problem, then try and arrange to meet someone to run with. You are much less likely to cry off a session, if you are going to be letting down your running buddy by doing so.

If you can’t manage that, then tell your partner or a friend of your intention to run that night or the next morning. Ask them to keep you accountable – get them to check you’ve done it afterwards!

Perhaps get a large piece of paper and write down all of the exercise – runs, gym sessions, swims, walking – you’ve done in the last 6-8 weeks (whatever will fill about half of the sheet) and pin it up somewhere.

You are far less likely to stop running if you can see at a glance how far you’ve come – and therefore how much you would lose by giving up. Add each session to it, as you do them.

If you really can’t face running, put on your kit and go out of the door – say to yourself that you are going to jog down the road for two minutes, and, if you still can’t face it, you can just walk back. That will usually end up as a decent run.

If you can’t face even that, then put on your kit, get out of the door, and go for a walk. This too may result in a run – and even if it doesn’t, you’ve still done something.

In the end, it all comes down to motivation.