RUNNING: HR, Heat & RPE

Triathlon Forum
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So I’ve just come back to what was scheduled as a 6 mile run, which turned into a 4 mile run mainly because the heat & humidity sucked the life right out of me…

So with that said, of the dozen or so races over the past two years, I’ve been extremely lucky on my race day weather. It’s either been a bueatiful day, mid/upper 70’s, low humidty, sunny or overcast or raining. When the weather on race day is like today, around 85 degrees, (feel like 90), 90% humidty and no matter how slow you run you can’t keep your HR down, what does one do, even though your RPE (other then the heat) feel like a 6.

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This is IMO, one fo the major downfalls to going strictly by HR. Environment has a HUGE effect.

If the heat is up there likely you’ll be fine running at an eleveated HR as long as PE is inline with your typical HR. The additional beats are not necessarily for “extra effort” but to pump more blood to the skin for cooling.

You’ll be slower on a hot day, but if you run strictly by HR you’ll likely go under your capability and be even slower. At least that’s been my experiance.

~Matt