So the past two weekends, I've been exploring an area of my neighborhood that's new to me, and while it's very pretty and lends itself to fantasies of jogging through the Tuscan countryside or cantering along cliffs in the Mediterranean somewhere, it's frankly been kicking my butt. It's very hilly in sections and it hasn't helped that I've been getting started close to midday when it's been very hot and humid. I seem to do okay at the beginning, but especially this past weekend at the 1.75-2 mile marks, I started to get overheated. I found myself wishing that I had water with me, or my cell phone and the number of a good taxi service... and I let myself walk the rest of the mile and half home, since I really did not have the option of any help getting back, and I figured it was better to take it easy than risk passing out on the side of a pretty deserted black top road. I felt like a wimp though... (especially after one of my friends in the neighborhood saw me walking home - oh no, the peer pressure!) and that left me wondering, how hard should we be pushing ourselves in the heat? What's wimping out and what's pushing too much? Is there a certain sort of strategy for running/recovery that we should apply to particularly hilly areas? Also, how should one plan one's water consumption? When it's cooler, and I'm going a lesser distance, I seem to be fine without taking any along...but now that I'm trying to go a little further and we seemed to have finally reached summer temperatures...I seem to be wanting that water. What's the best way to take it with you? I stopped by REI on Sunday and checked out their various options, but I just couldn't decide what would work well. I didn't want to shell out the $30-40 dollars on an awkward piece that didn't work. I was wondering if anyone had any good experiences with any particular product?
Yes, I know. Again with all the questions...
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OK, excellent questions.
First, let me reiterate that you are all taking on an extra difficult task, learning to run at this time of year.
This is about the most demanding and dangerous time, weather-wise, to be trying to run at all. I do fear that if you're just learning, you'll get discouraged.
Last year, at band camp, I mean, training for the Chicago Marathon, our training season started in May or June. My friends and I were in ideal running condition, but all summer, we were frustrated by our performance. We were putting out as much energy as before, but getting far less out of it.
Here's the problem - you just aren't getting as much oxygen when it's hot and humid. The air is less dense when heated, which equals less oxygen per breath. The air that is there is so full of moisture that even further reduces the amount of oxygen you're getting per breath.
Expecting decent performance out of yourself in this heat and humidity (and on some days, pollution) is like going to high altitude and expecting to feel well running there.
Unfortunately, for most of us, no one is going to pay us to move someplace cooler and drier to train. So, we have to be smart.
For one thing, this midday stuff is worthless except perhaps to make you really, really mean. It's better to train when the sun goes down, and even better to train in the morning, when it's even cooler, and the air in most of the places we run is a bit cleaner.
We also are going to lose water quicker, resulting in faster fatigue and slower recovery. The only answers to that are hydration and eletrolytes. Everyone needs to be in the habit of drinking a couple of liters of water a day, and probably supplementing that water with some electrolytes. Please, please, please read http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-302--4814-0,00.html. It has some helpful guidelines for what you should be taking in.
I don't feel that you need anything like a Camelback for the distances we're running. It can't hurt to take a bottle, and there are some bottle-carrying belts. Personally, I can't stand them. They slosh, they're more weight flopping around where I don't want it, and they can chafe some people. If necessary, I'll just carry a bottle - there are convenient and relatively inexpensive bottles and hand strap combinations out there, at RunTex or REI.
If you do something foolish like run at noon (and we all at some point do it), then you better realize it's not a normal run, and plan appropriately. Take a small bottle of water to drink at the halfway point. Plan your route to take you past places where you can duck in to grab some water. Plan your route to take advantage of shade - at this years Austin Marathon, we had ideal temperatures in the low forties, but I wore a black long-sleeve shirt. I was feeling pretty uncomfortably hot in the last hour or two out there.
Oh yeah - dress right. Wear light colors. Even blues and reds can be too dark - if you can wear white, do it. Wear a light-colored ventilated cap, but keep in mind that we radiate a huge percentage of our body heat out of our heads.
As far as how hard to push yourself, you need to take a lot into account and be honest with yourself. Have you been hydrating well? Did you get enough nutrition, or are you dizzy because you've already burned through the english muffin you had six hours ago?
Anything that doesn't just feel like "tired" is a big hint - if you're dizzy, or your extremities are tingling, or you can't seem to catch your breath, you need to stop, get out of the heat, get some fluids, and make sure someone is around to keep an eye on you.
You shouldn't be pushing yourself to exhaustion on any runs except for the Tuesday workouts. I'm not just reserving that opportunity for sadism for myself - the Tuesday workout is the only one where you should be pushing a harder pace. The rest of the week, you should be running at a conversational pace. If that means walking, then you walk... Pride is worthless when you've laying on the ground from dehydration, hyponatremia, or heat exhaustion.
Tomorrow, we'll be talking about running hills, so that'll cover that. Is that everything? Whew...
Oh, and let me add...
There is an upside, here. If you're training at an oxygen deficit now, imagine how you'll feel when it gets cooler, and you can get more O2 with every breath.
The nice thing about Chicago last year was that we left Austin's heat and humidity in the 90's, and got off the plane in Chicago into weather in the 30's and 40's, with reasonable humidity. It was a joyous thing.
If you guys will be patient and follow the plan, you're going to be way ahead of a lot of people in another month or two.
Stick with it!
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