Right now I’m doing all of my runs at lunch. Lately it’s been mid-to-upper 90s (with the humidity of South Louisiana the heat index is low-to-mid 100s) when I run and I’ve been struggling. I find it hard to maintain even my E pace. When I do this it is very labored. Take away the heat and it’s just an easy run at the same pace. I’m a bigger guy and struggle in the heat. I’m not trying to acclimate to the heat, I just want to get my scheduled run in at the appropriate pace.
I feel like I’m not stressing my system appropriately. Am I thinking about this correctly? Should I just move indoors on the treadmill and run at the appropriate paces (E, T, I, etc.)? Right now my schedule is such that I run at lunch, so running when it’s cooler (80’s) isn’t possible.
You aren’t stressing your muscles as much due to the slower pace (the same would be true of say training at altitude), but other systems (ex. O2 delivery, circulatory, neuro) are being worked hard. 100+ days will easily cost you 30sec./mile over a 70deg. one; wear a HRM and aim for a training HR instead of a given pace.
It has been getting like that in Atlanta. The first could runs with the heat were pretty disappointing. They got better for me & my HR is getting back to its normal rate & the effort is getting back to feeling like I felt when it was in the 70s and 80s
I just moved from Pittsburgh to Atlanta a few weeks ago, and have historically not fared well in the heat (gets to 90 for a week or so in the 'burgh, that’s it). As mentioned, it’s been in the 90’s in ATL with a heat index at 100+. What’s helped me so far:
-Water- I’ve been carrying water w/ a hand held that I fill with COLD water. Holding the cold bottle seems to help (I guess the same idea as Sindballe putting ice in his glove at kona?). Not drinking constantly, but its good to know its there.
-Start by walking for a few minutes to wake everything up.
-Drinking less coke, more gatorade/water throughout the day. I’m much more thirsty and have been drinking a lot more gatorade, water, and choc milk.
It seems to be getting easier. Pace in pittsburgh was ~8:00 for the ‘everyday’ pace. Now it’s more like 8:45, but inching down. The effort is definitely there, though. I wouldn’t worry too much about hitting the pace every day was long as your HR is where its supposed to be. I think if you do that, and hit the track when its cooler, or the treadmill, 1-2x a week for some faster stuff, you’ll be set.
If I were to run on a treadmill, I would train my muscles appropriately, correct? Wouldn’t I also be training my 02 delivery, neuro, etc.? I guess I’m asking what is there to gain by training in the heat if I’m not trying to acclimate?
That’s why I start my long stuff around 4:00am. Keep your workouts in the heat under 45 minutes and do not worry about pace. If you want to run hard keep it under 30 minutes.
Running in the heat makes a lot of sense if you’re going to be racing in the same conditions. When running in the heat your muscles are still getting training benefit, but are not working as hard as they would if it were cooler out. Back in the days (before, cough cough, EPO) Lance used to do some interval training with supplemental O2 to reach higher HRs and muscle workloads. Training on a treadmill in AC will work your legs more, but if you’re racing in hot conditions, do as much training in them as possible (it’s the optimal balance of systems you’ll be using race day).
Funney you should mention it. I live in Central Florida and our heat is about the same, I too run mainly at lunch, the only exceptions being my “quality” work which gets done at night time or early evening.
My suggestion is to keep at it and eventully you get better. Don’t worry at all about pace unlesss you’re trying to do a tempo run or something, heat seems to make up for the lack of speed somehow. That and be careful, I’m not sure why but heat drains you like nothing else… even at a slow pace.
Find a treadmill and use the damn thing. Life is too short to run outside in the southeast past 9 am during the summer. Is a detriment to your training, and bad for your skin to boot. And it must take forever to cool down to resume your workday.
Haha, funny story… My 12 year old daughter picked out for me, for father’s day, a mini-keg of Heineken Light!..guess I could mount it on the treddy and use as motivation. One more reason to run inside!
It has been extremely warm here in Ottawa (100+) and based on my schedule (work +fun), I can only run @ lunch/early afternoon and holy crap this is tough. I am totally wasted after 45 mins and the only thing I can think of are those folks participating in Badwater, how can they do that for 135 miles with probably hotter weather and some “killer” hills/climbs!
If you live in S. Louisiana, why wouldnt you want to? Won’t you be racing in those conditions? FWIW, losing weight made running in the heat a whole bunch more tolerable for me. I try to keep the runs shorter, if I have to go over an hour I’ll do it at 11PM if necessary to avoid long and hot in order to avoid being wiped the next day.
About how long does it take for everything to get semi-normal again? I was able to keep my HR in check until the last 3 miles of a 15 miler and then my pace dropped like a stone and my HR went to the moon. I struggled through it, but I’m not sure that I did myself any favors. I drank 100oz of fluid and still lost several pounds.
