July 4, 2019

Beat The Heat

With the summmer months come rising temperatures, humidity, and additional sunshine, but this does not mean that your run needs to be a sufferfest.

Running in the heat not only challenges your body both during running and the recovery process. In the summer, your body’s core temperature rises faster with the rising temperature. If you’ve ever had the flu you know that the higher your core temperature gets, the worse you’re going to feel. Second, as your core temperature rises the body will start to sweat a lot more. Sweat is an amazing response to help cool the body while evaporating away from the skin and taking the heat with it. However, if you live in a humid climate the evaporation rate is significatly slowed because the air is already saturated with water. Slower evaporation rate = less cooling. If you’re lucky enough to live in a climate that’s not humid, that doesn’t mean this doesn’t apply to you. In drier climates, the sweat evaporates almost as quickly as your body produces it which can lead to significant dehydration. As your body becomes dehydrated, its ability to self cool (i.e. sweat) becomes significantly hampered, which in turn raises your core temperature, which leads to a poorer performacne (notice the vicious cycle here?).

What about recovery? Have you ever come back from a tough workout or event and felt like a zombie? That 1000 yard stare and oh yes…you’re still sweating post shower? Your body takes longer to recover in the summer because its spending most of it’s post workout energy on cooling itself rather repairing itself. The body will always try to reach a temperature of homeostasis first and then repair it’s muscles second. It’s important to recognize this as you develop training plans with hard workouts (Majestic Workouts for you Patriot Runners!), recovery runs, and rest days.

So now what? Change your break to the summer? Wait until fall to start training? No! Let’s take advantage of the extra daylight hours to get in some solid (and safe) training.

How to beat the heat:

1) Hydrate early and often. Start off your training day hydrated. Ensure you’re drinking plenty of fluids with the minerals (Sodium, Magnesium, even Iron) your body will lose during the workout. There is lots of literature on over hyrdating (hyponatremia/water intoxication) so ensure you are drinking a good mix of electrolytes and water. (If you want to read more on this topic we recommend “Waterlogged” by Timothy Noakes) Your body cannot produce these minerals on their own, you need to eat/drink them. You may need to run with a water bottle and plan your route with stops at local fountains for a refill. We love Nathan Hydration Systems. They have everything from fanny packs, vests, and handhelds to meet your comfort level.

2) Wear light colored clothing: Running clothing that is light in color as well as lightweight, and has vents or mesh. You want the sweat to evaporate, not stick to your clothes! Also, be sure to wear a hat, sunglasses that protect against UVA and UVB rays, and a sweatproof sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher.

3) Run early or late. Humidity can be a bit higher in the morning, but with the sun barely up (if at all), it can give you a break from the heat. It’s not the heat or the humidity that ends up winning it’s the WGBT (wet globe bulb temperature) a combination of the air temperature, humidity, sun, and wind. Cooler temperatures in the morning and evenings will alleviate major impacts to performance.

4) Recover better. It was mentioned that the heat takes a toll on muscle recovery, but you can help speed up the process with a few quick adjustments. Hydrate with electrolytes (obvious right?). Hit the showers, taking a cool (not freezing cold) shower after your run will help bring down the core body temperature faster. Immediately take in calories. I know most people say “but I can’t eat” after a workout, but the first 30 minutes are utterly important for muscle growth and the replacement of loss muscle stores. We recommend a easy to digest 200 calorie snack with a balance of protein and carbs. We like Picky Bars. This will buy you about 45-60 minutes before you should refuel with a solid meal.

5) Make adjustements…to your expectations and to your pacing. Understand that the heat will always win. No matter how many articles with helpful tips you read. At Patriot Running, it’s about training smarter and in this case, safer. The likelihood of you running your PR in the middle of the summer is slim, but you can still train and even race smarter that your competitors. To get scientifc Coach Joe has developed a free app (RunWise) to help you in real time determine your pacing adjustments. RunWise can help you set your trainigng and race expectations appropriately -given the weather- so there is less risk to heat injury.