Heat Advisory
The ins and outs of hot weather endurance.
Every year about this time everyone wants to talk about how hot it is and how to run or bike in the hot weather. I roll my eyes and mutter like a curmudgeon, “Not this again! How many times have a had to suffer through this article in that running magazine? How many times have I written about it myself?”
“Leave it alone!” I screech. “Enough!” I wail like scrooge beset by deamons. “Make no bones about it!” I declare. (Knowing, as I do, that this comes from an old English saying about the efficacy of fish soup sans bones, or really fish stew, because they all ate out of a common pot, scooping with hunks of rough bread.)
Then I ask, “What should I write about this week?”
And you say, “How about running in the heat?”
And I search my archive, because I remember writing this exact article for my first podcast in July of 2008 and can’t find it. And, sigh, and carry on.
So, I guess today we talk about running in the heat. Book mark it this time ‘cause I’m out!
First we’ll ask the most powerful question: “Why do you care?”
Well, you care because running or anything else in the heat can make you uncomfortable, make you sick and can even kill you if you try hard enough.
The human body is an amazing machine. It is designed to adapt to very large temperature range. But it needs time to adapt. Those of us who live in place where we have seasons get shoved from very cold into very hot without much warning. Add in the time we spend in temperature controlled environments and we don’t get the natural adaptation that we need to be comfortable in the extreme temperatures of our environs.
You don’t’ want to die so it’s best to listen to your body when you’re out doing stuff in the heat. I’m no doctor, but if I was I might warn you to be mindful of existing medical conditions before you go out and push yourself in the heat. Heat puts a different stress on your body.
Depending on your conditioning you can quickly be overwhelmed by the stress of heat or you can knock out the Western States Endurance run in 14 hours and 9 minutes like Jim Walmsley.
When you get heat sick you may feel symptoms like dizziness, sick to your stomach, chills, delirium – you know, the same symptoms that you get from every other damn thing that can go wrong when you’re out on the trail.
Let’s skip all the talk about sweat rates and salt pills and all that technical stuff. Let’s just keep it simple. What can you do to not overheat?
- Avoid the heat.
If you don’t want to overheat a good strategy is to avoid it. This means going out at times when there is less heat. Early in the day or late at night. I know folks in Florida who get up and do their training in the hours before dawn to avoid the heat.
Select routes that are shaded or have a breeze or run by some cooling water. I was out in the trails today and it was in the 80’s and humid. I ran a shady section with a small breeze coming off the pond that was wonderfully pleasant.
Of course, you can stay inside on the treadmill or in some other climate controlled facility. Remember that one time I was training for Boston and got trapped by a blizzard in a hotel at the Chicago airport? I just ran the halls for my workout?
- Deflect the heat.
Heat is energy. It is energy from the sun. Another strategy is to reflect that energy before it gets to your body. This means wearing light colored clothes and hats to deflect the heat. That’s why those people wear those big, broad hats in hot countries.
Clothes can be a double edged sword. Clothes can trap the heat as well. You’ll see two ends of this spectrum in the way endurance athletes respond. Some will wear a minimum of clothing to expose as much skin as possible. Some will wear large loose-fitting, light clothes that breathe.
Whatever you strategy is be mindful of how what you’re wearing reflects and/or traps that heat.
- Remove the heat.
Overheating becomes a problem when your core gets too hot and your natural ability to remove the heat is overwhelmed. You have a very unique and efficient way to remove heat. It’s called sweat. Evaporating water absorbs an incredible amount of energy.
Your body sends blood from your core out to your skin into the tiny capillaries where it can shed excess heat as the sweat evaporates from the skin. That’s why you less-swarthy folk get all pink when you’re hot. That’s the blood moving to the outside.
You can help your natural heat removal system by staying hydrated and getting electrolytes. You can’t sweat as efficiently if you run out of water and salt.
By the way, you probably already know this, but sweat also causes chaffing. When it gets hot don’t’ forget to lube up all those places you don’t want skin removed from.
Another great way to help your natural heat removal systems is to throw some extra water on. That’s why dumping that cup over your head or squeezing the sponge on your face feels so good. It’s the same mechanism.
There are other products you can hold or wear that will stay cool and help shunt heat. Ice is always good. Some of the Badwater racers have their support crews pack them in ice at the rest stops. You’ve probably thrown a handful of ice under your racing hat in a hot race. If you like racing in bike shirts you can fill those big back pockets with ice as well.
- Adapt to the heat.
Finally, your best bet is to practice enough that you acclimate to the heat. The first couple outings will be a bit uncomfortable but your body is amazing and will adapt. I am constantly amazed at how uncomfortable those first couple hot, humid outings are, and then in a couple weeks I forget about it.
Then in the fall those first couple of cold days are uncomfortable, but before you know it, below freezing is ho-hum as well.
Take it easy, listen to your body, be kind to yourself, do a little preparation and you’ll be fine.
Now, let’s not talk of this again.