This may not work in your workplace, but I eat my lunch in my sweaty workout gear. If your gear and you were clean before the workout, and you're hydrated, you shouldn't smell.

Once I've finished my lunch, I shower in the work showers and I'm all good. But this depends on showers in the workplace and a reasonably easy going workplace.

I am lucky enough to have showers at work, but even a cold shower won't do it if I run in temperatures over 80F. A fan on the back of my neck when I get back to my desk does wonders, though, and I do it fully clothed.

Cold showers don't really do anything for me. We have fans in the locker room at work and I make sure I always to grab one of the lockers right in front of the fan so I can have that blowing on me as I get dressed after showering. Once I move away from the fan, I start sweating profusely though, especially on my forehead. I grab a few paper towels so I can wipe it off in case I bump into people and need to talk to them. Once I walk back across the street to my building I sit in front of a small desk fan blowing on my face until I cool off. Thankfully we have a pretty relaxed dress code so once it starts warming up, I trade in the slacks/button up shirt for shorts/tshirt/sandals. Even then, I still sweat but feel less disgusting. I've come to just accept being uncomfortable for 30 minutes after running at lunch.

I'm in The Woodlands so think hot and humid all the time, especially the summer. I work in a professional environment so at a minimum I'm in dress slacks and long sleeves all the time (except Fridays). Thankfully we have a locker room and showers. First think I do is grab a locker underneath one of the ceiling fans. Then, I don't take cold showers but definitely not hot - more lukewarm. When getting dressed I take my time putting my shirt on and try to give myself as much time as possible to cool off as best I can. After I'm dressed I keep my sleeves unbuttoned and head straight to my office where I've got a desk fan already blowing. Sit in front of that for 5-10 minutes while drinking cold water and I'm good to go. The other thing I do is grab a small gym towel and take it with me to constantly wipe my brow for about 10 minutes. I just throw it in my gym bag and swap it for another during my next trip.

This is totally not helpful... but when I was at Zipp, we had an 800 square foot freezer to store carbon prepreg.. after lunch rides, I'd sit in there at 0F for 10 minutes and do email on my phone to cool down. I found that they key was to stay in there until my fingers struggled to function properly and when I came out I could shower and continue with the day as if I I hadn't exercised at all! I miss that freezer!

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....haha, that story made my day. Actually, we have a cold room at work too, maybe I check how strong the wifi signal is in there.... ;-)

Cold shower works for me as long as I stay in the water for long enough. It's not enough to just stay under until your skin feels cool, gotta tough it out for a few more minutes!

^This. When I used to run at lunch I'd blast a cold shower force myself to stay under for a few minutes, would also crank a desk fan when I got back to my desk.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Shortly after I started working out at lunch time, these emails started going around the office.




It took 7 years, but the emails have stopped, I think they are now immune to my stench.

I take a fairly cold shower, but it's quick so not sure how much it helps. I have a desk fan so I get back to my desk and sit with it blowing in my face. Helps but takes a few minutes.

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--Chris

Summer lunch runs are pretty much relegated to the treadmill here in Houston. I also almost never have a hard workout at lunch, those are reserved for the morning sessions. So treadmill + z2 and I'm cooled off before I even hit the shower.

Only if it is IN your cubicle. In an office with the door closed, no.


Jokes aside--I live in Dallas....doesn't suck as much as The Woodlands/Houston, but still hot/humid by most standards now. I don't have a shower (unless I want to pay $20 per month for access to the onsite gym). We do have a private bathroom that has a strong AC inlet, though. So, I cleanup in there...using the sink as a bath/shower. I rinse my head and face with cold water several times, and stand under the AC vent nekid to help cool off a bit. I also have a 10" fan in my office to continue the cooling process.

External cooling while eventually effective does not change your core temperature immediately. This is the problem--you've heated your core body temp especially on hot days. Drinking a fair amount of cold beverage will speed up the process but too much cold fluid too quickly will induce nausea, not to mention brain freeze. Also, make sure your lunch isn't something spicy that will trigger forehead and facial sweating. I can't workout at lunch--takes way too long for me to cool down.

Not a lunch workout, but I frequently bike to work at an elementary school, and we don't have a shower. I sometimes use wipes or just air dry and am good to go. I also take the ride to work pretty easy so there isn't a ton of sweat built up. If I was doing a harder workout and was pretty soaked coming into school it would a different situation.

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Yep, sometimes the shower doesn't take. My tips:
1. Pre-cool your core. Drink a big icewater, take your jacket off, put the fan on, all before the workout. My office stays pretty cold so sometimes I won't even sweat for the first mile or two of a lunch run no matter how hot outside.
2. Head to the server room. If a carbon storage freezer is not readily available, this is a good place to cool down fast.
3. Don't dry off completely after the shower. Your body wants evaporative cooling so provide it with clean water instead of sweat.

I find I need warm showers otherwise I keep sweating. A cold shower closes your pores and forces you to stop sweating, but only for a few mins. This is why people start sweating again once they've returned to the office: after a few mins the pores reopen and you start to sweat again.

I have solved this problem by swimming instead of running at lunch. Now I only have to explain why I have circles under my eyes

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Same for me. Luke warm shower is about as cold as I go and seems to really help. Cold showers just seem to delay the sweat a minute or two, but it comes back with a vengeance.

A cold drink will dramatically shorten the time it takes you to cool down. All these tips about fans and showers are great, but you can attack the problem at it's core (ha ha get it) and stop sweating in maybe half the time if you drink a glass of ice water or eat some ice cream or something similar.

I put a bottle full of ice water in the work fridge before heading out. And then run with ice water in a bottle in my hand. When I return, I've been drinking ice water to stay cooler and then I've also got a fresh bottle of ice water when I come in the door. On the worst days, I'll even put a bottle full of ice outside under my car and then pour the cold water over me in the parking lot when I finish, then grab a towel from my car to dry off the excess before coming in. As you can guess, it's stupid hot here in Texas in the summer.

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Showers help.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Well that and a you've triggered a mass of chemical reactions when you stop running or whatever. There are no shortcuts - it can take many minutes for the body to rebuild ATP and phospho-creatine, and heat is released while it's doing that. The best suggestion in my experience is the person above who suggested eating first; or checking email on your phone or making or returning a call or two. These you can do outside or in the locker room; then after your internal chemistry set has quieted down you can get on with the shower and getting dressed.

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Brian

Gonna buy a fast car, put on my lead boots, take a long, long drive
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I take it most of you in here are men...

I work out during lunch most week days...try showering and then having to blow dry your sweaty hair with a hot dryer, then get back into a suit to go back to the office!

In all seriousness though, the lukewarm water shower seems to help the most for me. I've been thinking about the desk fan lately, since it's getting to be summer in NYC.

I am cursed with a red face for at least 30 min after I get back to the office. Dead giveaway that I was at the gym.

Got you beat. I work for a biotech firm. We have about 100,000 sf of cold spaces. 2-8 C, -10 C, -20 C, and -40C. After a lunch workout I just go stand in one of those until I am cool and then shower.

Waiting is best, but sometimes I'm in a hurry or there is competition for the limited showers, so I've learned a few tricks that have earned me a reputation as the guy who can hop right in the shower:
- take a huge drink of water before getting in the shower (double whammy-- good for hydration, and thermodynamics are in your favor)
- luke warm shower progressing to as cold as it goes, the longer the better but try for at least a couple minutes under the cold.
- Don't dry off too fast. I usually hand squeegee myself and then dry with a washcloth. (Since I bike to work and run at lunch, I like to keep my gear and laundry to a minimum, hence the washcloth.) This leaves me slightly damp, which helps the cooling without inducing more sweating. I leave my hair as wet as possible without dripping until the last minute.
- dress strategically. Shirt goes on last. I've never sweat through a pair of pants or shoes, so those go on first

All have good advice...I second the ice water chug right after the workout (or during the last few mins if you can) and lukewarm shower transitioning to cold. I like cold showers anyway. I don't necessarily lunch workout, but I have gone on runs or lifted, in a certain airport in the south. It gets hot in this gym. And muggy. Then I have to go back into the metal tube and serve drinks to needy, whiney people.

I once swam about 90 mins in a 50m outdoor pool about 5 miles from Tampa Airport...sweated like a pig after that one, I'm sure my passengers enjoyed that...no shower available, with 90f and sun! I had 4 hours to kill.

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also rule 5

A cold shower doesn't really help. The only thing that works for me is to sit for a good 10-15 minutes before taking a shower so my body is cool before the shower. I used to run, then eat my lunch in my workout gear, then take a shower.

Or here in Ottawa Canada, that 0F freezer is outside the front door of our igloo offices 10 months per year. We just allow it to warm up here right in the window of IM 70.3 Tremblant to IM Tremblant (a 2 months gap), just to not totally scare away our American friends from from visiting us. You know I head to break the ice at lane swim at lunch today at an indoor pool!!!

All kidding aside I am not sure what one can do in a hot climate other than get as lean as possible. If you are leaner, you will cool off quickly.If you are a small athlete, even when working hard, your total heat generation is super low. If you are big and muscular and generate a lot of watts and a lot of heat, there not a ton you can do other than ramping down the workout early, cold shower and taking your time to change.

Pretty much what I do...and where I work (tall buildings and all), there always is a breeze around.
After my run, I stand in the shade in a building corner or between buildings where there is a slight breeze. Just 5 min will do the trick to get your core temp down enough that even a 5 min cool shower (keeping the water stream on your neck) will work.