Running in ‘swing season’.
At the office complex I work in, when I’m in town and feel like going in, they recently sent a memo about the vagaries of ‘swing season’. They told us that the building management industry has a challenge this time of year when it can be frosty in the mornings and warm in afternoons.
The buildings’ environmental systems can’t keep up. It is alternatively uncomfortably cold and uncomfortably warm in my office. We all know this and that’s why sweaters and light coats were invented. The same is true in your running life.
This time of year you could be running in weather from all seasons. If your run is long enough you might be running in all seasons in the same run. How do you cope?
One of the challenges is that our bodies aren’t used to the cold yet. It seems worse than it is. The same 45 F degree day in April would have us running close to naked, but in October we’re contemplating tights.
It’s not all in your head. Your body adapts to the broad seasonal changes in weather. In the summer heat your body adapts by moving blood away from your core out into the extremities to more efficiently manage core temperature during exercise. In the winter your body does the same in reverse.
During ‘swing season’ it takes a few weeks for your body to reconfigure its heating and cooling systems for the new environment.
There is some real danger from hypothermia if you decide to go out and train or race in the wrong weather inappropriately prepared. One of the most common situations this time of year is the cold rain.
The situation is this. You look at the thermometer and it says 45 F Degrees. ‘Not so bad’ you think. I’ll wear my high cut racing shorts and tech singlet for this ½ marathon and the effort will keep me warm enough. Perfect racing weather in fact, Right?
Well… If you add in a cold rain and some wind it can push you over the edge into hypothermia. You body is still in summer mode. The cold rain and wind will drop the effective temperature by 10-20 degrees.
The flip side of the problem happens too. Especially with longer races that start in the early morning. You put on those tights and long sleeve technical. Half way through the race the sun comes out and you’re cooking like an unhappy Maine lobster.
What are some strategies to keep you out of these uncomfortable situations?
Didn’t your Mom ever tell you to dress in layers?
Configure your clothes so that you have a number of weather situations covered. You have the articles to keep you warm if it’s breezy and you can strip pieces off if it gets warm.
My favorite temperature control mechanisms when the weather is on the edge are hat and gloves. If you can keep your head and your hands warm you can win the battle. They are easy to put on when you’re racing and easy to strip off.
DON’T wear winter gloves or fashion gloves. They will soak up water and become useless hand-weights.
I don’t use anything complex or expensive here. I wear those throw-away running gloves that you’ll find for $2 in any decent marathon expo. These are nice and light. They can get wet without getting heavy and you can strip them off quickly and tuck them into the waistband of your shorts.
Don’t toss the gloves away in a long race. There have been many situations where the sun goes in or the wind changes or it starts raining where I have to put those gloves back on and I’m glad I have them.
Same story for the hat. I will wear some version of your standard fuzzy hat. We used to call these ‘ski hats’ When it’s cold, or the wind blows you can roll the ‘cuff’ of the hat down to cover and keep your head warm. When it gets too hot you can roll it up to expose more skull or just take it off and tuck it away with the gloves.
That’s the simplest solution to swing season racing and training and if we left it there you would be the richer for it!
Here are some additional tactics.
Leg warmers! I have found that my Zensah calf sleeves make an excellent addition to keep my legs warm on cold days. They are the Capri pants solution to tights. Instead of having to put on full tights you can use your calf sleeves to warm you up just enough to stay in shorts.
Throw away clothes. That old sweatshirt or the classic trash bag are a good solutions for when you have to stand around uncomfortably waiting for an early morning race to start.
From the bike world… A trick that I learned from the mountain biking world is to cut the sleeves off of a long sleeve shirt and use those as throw-away arm warmers. Some of these guys will use large cut off shirt sleeves as throw-away leg warmers too.
Hopefully this will keep some of you from having a bad day racing in swing season. A little planning and some tactical clothing selection will help you flex to changing conditions through the day.