Do to a full time job and family i train whenever i can. Most times I’m training in the middle of the day. I live in South Florida where this time of the year it’s 95 degrees with humidity at 1,000.
It’s flipping HOT here!!!
What benefit other than acclimation I’m i getting on these hot runs?
Note: i drink lots of water making sure my pee is clear clear clear before heading on these 6-8mi runs at around 2pm 3pm.
acclimation is about it.
if you aren’t training for hot races it is usually better to go somewhere cooler (or wake up early) so you can run faster.
But keep at it and the winter will feel amazing!
acclimatation is one but you might be losing in other aspect. I recommend you do your speed work, intervals in colder time of the day or on the treadmill so quality of those session isn’t compromise. Not all session needs to be done in the heat to get good acclimation.
I was thinking the same thing. Does training in this heat, albeit different heat, prepare someone for Kona?
It’s starting to become cold over here now that summer is ending. I’m not looking forward to running in the cold. Wished I could live in Florida so I could train in good weather!
It’s kind of like training at altitude- big cardiovascular fitness benefit, but compromised quality speed. If you can get speed/tempo runs done in the cool weather then leave you LSD stuff in the heat that’s probably ideal.
Don’t you just love it when folks unfamiliar with your conditions suggest running at a cooler time of the day? They just simply don’t understand that those times just don’t exist. I’m in Houston and we have very similar conditions. If I wake up early to run it’s roughly 80 degrees at 4-5am but with 99% humidity. Or I can go later in the day when the humidity is a touch lower but the temps are approaching 100 degrees. Pick your poison.
Personally due to time constraints I do all my runs longer than about 40 minutes early in the morning. Everything else I do at the office on the treadmill. If I keep it to 40 minutes or less I can handle the mental effort of a treadmill run plus be showered and changed in a respectable amount of time such that my co-workers don’t notice my absence.
Trainer in the garage, most runs starting at 5am or earlier. Speed work is done on the treadmill or done somewhere where I can take a break with shade. Even running that early it is almost impossible to stay hydrated.
Don’t you just love it when folks unfamiliar with your conditions suggest running at a cooler time of the day? They just simply don’t understand that those times just don’t exist. I’m in Houston and we have very similar conditions. If I wake up early to run it’s roughly 80 degrees at 4-5am but with 99% humidity. Or I can go later in the day when the humidity is a touch lower but the temps are approaching 100 degrees. Pick your poison
Same conditions here in NC, get up early to avoid sun and you bump up against 100 percent humidity wait till later and its 95 degrees.
People just dont understand the climate down south.
I do the early shift just to avoid the sun, too much previous sun exposure on my poor skin.
Ron W.
So the quality workouts like speed & tempo less effective?
I read something about plasma build up which helps with transferring red blood cells when training in the heat. This seems beneficial.
I know I’m getting detailed, but i just want to have something to boost me up as to why I’m running in the middle of the day. I should be well acclimated by now. Lol!
I want to make sure I’m not running too hard though. I do an 8mi run at 8min pace . I get that sick feeling in my throat after which makes it hard to eat and swallow.
Does anybody out there get this feeling and if so could i just be running too hard?
+1 for acclimation to heat, it’ll be that much better when you race in cooler temperatures as well as races in South Florida. I wish I had that for the Miami Marathon last year!
acclimatation is one but you might be losing in other aspect. I recommend you do your speed work, intervals in colder time of the day or on the treadmill so quality of those session isn’t compromise. Not all session needs to be done in the heat to get good acclimation.
^ This.
Don’t compromise the goals of the session to acclimate in the heat. If you are doing a track workout, or strength workout, etc to build specific adaptions and the heat will compromise this try to stay away from the heat (if possible). Remember heat is another stress on the body, and will limit your ability to perform at your best effort in certain workouts. Do you need to add another stress? Do you factor in that you might need to recover more?
I’ve worked under the (hopefully not false) assumption that the benefit of running everything but speedwork in the heat is that when the weather cools, I will be faster than I would have without the heat training. Is this incorrect?
to answer your question there is one physiological adaptation to acclimating and that is the fact that as you train you get less and less negatively effected by training in the heat. training in not optimal environments leads to not optimal responses until the environment becomes comfortable to you. but there is no adaptation other than that. so really its just acclimating and the comfort that leads to. but at those temperatures you speak of you will always be at a slight disadvantage than those who can train in environments that cool the body at high intensities.
as to the altitude stuff, its a wash unless you live at altitude. most studies test one or at the most 2 variables and do see a drop or raise in certain aerobic components to fitness. the key is to understand the whole aerobic model and what is happening to an athlete at altitude. living there is great, going for a weekend… not so much. we respond to the performance not the effort.
I was thinking the same thing. Does training in this heat, albeit different heat, prepare someone for Kona?
I don’t think so at least not so much. Used to live in a very humid climate and to me a dry heat is much more tolerable. Maybe some people are the other way around and both entail different challenges. Maybe you’ll build a general mental toughness that will help in Kona but your coping strategies will probably differ.
I’ve worked under the (hopefully not false) assumption that the benefit of running everything but speedwork in the heat is that when the weather cools, I will be faster than I would have without the heat training. Is this incorrect?
probably
because any hot runs you replaced with cool runs you could do them faster, or longer.
Don’t you just love it when folks unfamiliar with your conditions suggest running at a cooler time of the day? They just simply don’t understand that those times just don’t exist. I’m in Houston and we have very similar conditions. If I wake up early to run it’s roughly 80 degrees at 4-5am but with 99% humidity. Or I can go later in the day when the humidity is a touch lower but the temps are approaching 100 degrees. Pick your poison.
That’s how swimming suddenly became my favourite sport over the summer. I find that when the temps crest 40C (105F?) midday and the humidity drowns you early in the morning, any runs longer than 30-40 minutes impact my recovery too much to be worth it.
the only way I can run between May and November is inside on a treadmill
temperature outside at 7pm after sun set, 39 celcius, temperature in middle of the day low to mid 40’s up to mid 50’s, temperature at midnight in July low 40’s - thats as cool as it gets
so treadmill, room at 22 degree’s - off we go
.
I think training in extreme heat like that helps you mentally. I spent the last month training in 120+ degrees and it was absolutely terrible. I’d run sometimes at 10pm or later but it was still over 100 at that time. I don’t know if I got any real fitness bonus out of that month that I wouldn’t of gotten elsewhere but being able to struggle through will make running in more normal temps feel a lot easier.
I live on the SW coast of Florida. Admittedly I’m a “morning person” to start with, but I like to get up early and run before sunrise. Even at 6AM it’s 80F with 80% RH this time of year, so I’m still dripping wet by the time I finish.
I much prefer that to running in the oven-like afternoon when you also have to contend with the direct sun. My HR likes to spike when I run in the afternoon, forcing me to slow down. A few times I’ve gotten so overheated that I just shut it down and walked home in the middle of a workout. Not very fun or productive from my standpoint.
I suppose another option is running in the evening, but we place a high value on always having dinner as a family and then spending time together, so I prefer not to do anything that interferes with that. Lifestyle choice on my part.
One of the things I do try to do is schedule some training at the same time of day that I’ll be racing. So assuming a 7AM race time, I’ll do some runs starting out at 8:30-9:00 so I can acclimatize myself to what I’m likely to experience during the race.
Mark