It’s actually been a pretty good summer so far here in the Midwest. Figures, because I’m not training for anything long this year. But when I watch the news in the evening, I can’t help but wonder how athletes in the south, southwest, west, and northeast are getting their workouts in with this crazy weather. And then there is also the smoke from the wildfires in Canada. Is this going to be the new “norm”?
I’m in the northwest and the heat isn’t usually much of a factor for us. And wildfire smoke hasn’t hit us this year - yet - so overall it has been a decent summer so far. Win some lose some, though.
I’m trying to train for a marathon in six months but our real feel/heat index has been in the 100-115 range the past month. Makes running for anything beyond 30 minutes a real chore.
I don’t race now, but still train daily.
It’s been a brutal summer in the desert southwest. We are at 30 days straight of 100+ temps with most in the 105-107 range.
I’m up at 4 am to run each morning and it is already too hot.
My long rides have suffered in the last 4-5 weeks and I’m not doing anything outside after work in the evenings as I normally do.
So not great.
It’s been fairly normal but hotter and more humid than normal, for a longer period of time, and sunnier overall. The wet bulb temperature has made it harder to run for as long at as fast of a pace, so more runs get cut shorter and are slower. Also, the local OWS spots have lower water levels because of lack of rain, so it’s affected how much room there is to swim in some places a little.
All that is not unusual for a summer but it seems a little more pronounced this year overall.
The smoke is different though. I’ve had to plan around air quality in a noticeable way, which I don’t remember doing before. So far I don’t know that it’s affected things too much because I’ve been able to get in rest days on just the right days most of the time, but it becomes another variable to juggle.
I’m in Alaska, where it is usually fantastic for training all summer - think 20 hours of daylight, usually sunny and in 60’s. This year has been raining and chilly every. single. day. There is about a zero percent chance that a wildfire will happen, but it has not stopped raining the entire summer. The second half of last summer was the same. So my training has been indoors on the trainer every day except for 4 outdoor rides, and mostly indoors on the treadmill.
I’m in southeast Georgia. I didn’t train or race from 19-21. I started back last year and the layoff coupled with the heat during last summer annihilated my running. I’ve been steady at it for about a year and a half and this summer is worse than last year, despite the fact that I’m in better shape. I’m doing Augusta (last year I didn’t do anything long) and I’m struggling with my running, especially running off the bike. Two weeks ago I had to call my wife to come pick me up from a five miler. Last week was a little cooler. Today, however, was demoralizing. I had a six miler planned. The last mile was just a death march. I’ve never seen heat like this. I usually run in the early morning hours but in Augusta, I’ll have to run in the heat (as will all of us to one point or another). I’m trying to get acclimated to it but that’s a little scary in its own right. My runs are slow and very uncomfortable. I hope something clicks soon. Right now, every workout is a humbling - and dangerous - experience.
RP
Curious about the wet bulb temperature usage.
I use dew point on an almost daily basis and make a lot of decisions on it. Never really considered wet bulb as a metric for day to day use. Do your local Wx reports report it?
Curious about the wet bulb temperature usage.
I use dew point on an almost daily basis and make a lot of decisions on it. Never really considered wet bulb as a metric for day to day use. Do your local Wx reports report it?
I use dewpoint as well. Over 70 it starts getting miserable and I don’t even try workouts, just z2 for everything. Over 75 and I don’t even bother with that.
It’s actually been a pretty good summer so far here in the Midwest. Figures, because I’m not training for anything long this year. But when I watch the news in the evening, I can’t help but wonder how athletes in the south, southwest, west, and northeast are getting their workouts in with this crazy weather. And then there is also the smoke from the wildfires in Canada. Is this going to be the new “norm”?
IMHO, the fundamental problem is that politicians will always make decisions that make them popular in the short term over long term concerns such as global warming. So I think this is not the “new norm”, its going to get much worse. For example, just look at the 1.5 warming target, there is no way we are making it, not even close.
So I think there will be a lot more indoor training in our future if we want to continue to train.
Curious about the wet bulb temperature usage.
I use dew point on an almost daily basis and make a lot of decisions on it. Never really considered wet bulb as a metric for day to day use. Do your local Wx reports report it?
I use dewpoint as well. Over 70 it starts getting miserable and I don’t even try workouts, just z2 for everything. Over 75 and I don’t even bother with that.
Being on the Texas Gulf Coast if I didn’t even do z2 with a 75+ dew point that would knock out much of the year! I do limit to z3 typically. Been out the last few weeks to a back strain so I am missing out on these warm mornings. As of 8 AM it is a cool 80 F with 94 F dew point.
Yesterday was 112 heat index and 79 dew point. First thing I do is throw out the idea of completing the runs without walking breaks. On my 100’ long run, I stopped my watch and walked for 15-30sec every half mile. I also throw out any “normal†pacing and use RP for runs, except for intervals. For intervals I take longer recovery breaks but try to hit the interval as best as possible. Pretty much the same thing with the bike.
IMHO, the fundamental problem is that politicians will always make decisions that make them popular in the short term over long term concerns such as global warming. So I think this is not the “new norm”, its going to get much worse. For example, just look at the 1.5 warming target, there is no way we are making it, not even close.
So I think there will be a lot more indoor training in our future if we want to continue to train.
I really don’t disagree. I believe those of us who have years of experience training in the elements are able to get in most of our workouts outside but it would seem that with these extremes we will be forced indoors more often in the future.
I’ve been following the recent posts about Ironman participation (or lack thereof) and its future demise. The high costs of participation and travel certainly contribute to the problem, but I can’t help but wonder if climate won’t be the nail in the coffin for Ironman. How are you going to grow a sport to newcomers that requires hours of training that historically has been completed outdoors? And then add to the problem race is cancellations due to extreme weather. I read on Facebook of a local athlete who was going to Mt Tremblant to do her first 70.3. She was pretty devasted when it got cancelled and I don’t even think a refund or transfer compensates for the sacrifices she made training and the cost of travel and I wonder if she will continue with the sport.
I am in Central CT and this summer seems particularly hot and muggy. Mostly, temps have been in the 80s to low 90s with humidity in the 60-80% range. The storms that have been rolling through every other day do not cool things down much either. Fortunately, I live on fairly high ground but I ride past several roads that have been washed out from flooding. Looking at the forecast, this will continue through the month. Long term, like a few on this post have pointed out, I believe it will only get worse.
The temps do not affect my cycling but definitely my runs. I look like I jumped in a pool every time I run. I have had to add 30-45s to my target paces so that I don’t have to walk home.
I had an curious hiccup in racing this weekend.
As we are all aware the weather has been strange and around our parts it’s been raining all over the place all to often. As a result most beaches have been closed due to E Coli levels.
I had prepared for a race today that was within sensible travelling distance, but because of incessant rain, I decided to check the water quality. The specific beach the swim was due to start from was closed to public swimming. I didn’t want to do a duathlon so I decided not to go (it would have been a race day registration) so nothing lost. The organizer is one of the better groups around here.
Out of curiosity I checked the results and sure enough the swim took place. As a friend of my wife had died last year from an E Coli infection (suppressed immune system) I had no problem passing it up, as my A race is next weekend (different organizer). That swim will almost certainly be compromised by E Coli levels, it’s the same bloomin’ lake, different city and beach and there’s four days of rain in the forecast. So I have to decide if I should get some anti biotics in advance as my usual stash of penicillin may be ineffective against the current strains of E Coli. I’ve already paid for the race, so my Scottish heritage is pushing the ethics aside.
The entry forms, as we all know, deny responsibility for anything, but I’m curious if they gave the participants this information.
Anyone had similar hesitation or experience.
Curious about the wet bulb temperature usage.
I use dew point on an almost daily basis and make a lot of decisions on it. Never really considered wet bulb as a metric for day to day use. Do your local Wx reports report it?
Not usually but sometimes they do report it in forecast discussions. I wish they would as a standard metric.
I meant in the abstract sense of the combination of dewpoint + temp + UV index.
This website I think gives estimates of it for a given location in the US:
Curious about the wet bulb temperature usage.
I use dew point on an almost daily basis and make a lot of decisions on it. Never really considered wet bulb as a metric for day to day use. Do your local Wx reports report it?
I use dewpoint as well. Over 70 it starts getting miserable and I don’t even try workouts, just z2 for everything. Over 75 and I don’t even bother with that.
Being on the Texas Gulf Coast if I didn’t even do z2 with a 75+ dew point that would knock out much of the year! I do limit to z3 typically. Been out the last few weeks to a back strain so I am missing out on these warm mornings. As of 8 AM it is a cool 80 F with 94 F dew point.
Are you perhaps confusing dew point with humidity? A 94 degree dew point has like a 160 degree heat index. Highest ever recorded was 95.
Curious about the wet bulb temperature usage.
I use dew point on an almost daily basis and make a lot of decisions on it. Never really considered wet bulb as a metric for day to day use. Do your local Wx reports report it?
I use dewpoint as well. Over 70 it starts getting miserable and I don’t even try workouts, just z2 for everything. Over 75 and I don’t even bother with that.
Being on the Texas Gulf Coast if I didn’t even do z2 with a 75+ dew point that would knock out much of the year! I do limit to z3 typically. Been out the last few weeks to a back strain so I am missing out on these warm mornings. As of 8 AM it is a cool 80 F with 94 F dew point.
Are you perhaps confusing dew point with humidity? A 94 degree dew point has like a 160 degree heat index. Highest ever recorded was 95.
Morning brain fart - was 94% humidity, so dew point would have been uppers 70s. This morning as of 5 am, it is 82 with a 78 F dew point. Pleasant stuff. Just a couple more months of this stuff.
I had an curious hiccup in racing this weekend.
As we are all aware the weather has been strange and around our parts it’s been raining all over the place all to often. As a result most beaches have been closed due to E Coli levels.
I had prepared for a race today that was within sensible travelling distance, but because of incessant rain, I decided to check the water quality. The specific beach the swim was due to start from was closed to public swimming. I didn’t want to do a duathlon so I decided not to go (it would have been a race day registration) so nothing lost. The organizer is one of the better groups around here.
Out of curiosity I checked the results and sure enough the swim took place. As a friend of my wife had died last year from an E Coli infection (suppressed immune system) I had no problem passing it up, as my A race is next weekend (different organizer). That swim will almost certainly be compromised by E Coli levels, it’s the same bloomin’ lake, different city and beach and there’s four days of rain in the forecast. So I have to decide if I should get some anti biotics in advance as my usual stash of penicillin may be ineffective against the current strains of E Coli. I’ve already paid for the race, so my Scottish heritage is pushing the ethics aside.
The entry forms, as we all know, deny responsibility for anything, but I’m curious if they gave the participants this information.
Anyone had similar hesitation or experience.
I’ve had races over the past 30 years that I found out after the fact that the water quality was “questionable”. Never did get sick (knock, knock). At this time in my life and the sport, it would have to be a very, very, very, important race for me to swim in sh#t water. I guess that’s called wisdom 
I’m also on the TX Gulf Coast. Friday’s long run was 79f dew point and 102 “heat index”/“feels like”.
I use the WeatherBug app that does report the dew point if the weather station you’re looking at is measuring it.