Summer Training in the South

Here's the way I use weatherunderground.com to do postmortems on the weather during my runs. I plugged in Oxford, Mississippi, then scrolled down until I hit the icon that showed June 17, 2009. (You can set it for any day--yesterday, for example, or one year ago.) Then, on the page that takes you to, scroll down until you get the weather readings for every 5-10 minutes of the day so far:

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KUOX/2009/6/17/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA

I started my run at 7:15 when it was 75 degrees and 89% humidity. Finished 9 miles about an hour and 20 minutes later when it was 80.6 degrees and 79% humidity. That means the dew point rose from 71 to 73 or so in the course of my run. That's fairly typical summer morning weather around here.

I weighed 160 before the run and 156 after. I drank one 20 oz bottle of water at the halfway point. I'd stashed a bag in the bushes.

I wore a Garmin, ran in the woods, and paid almost no attention to my pace. I know from past experience that if I put in the miles, do some hills and strides, push the pace, progression-run style, at the end of some runs, and squeeze in some stretches of marathon-pace miles here and there when the weather moderates, I'll be in fine shape come September 1.

I grew up and reside in Florida, I went to school in Tallahassee and you are right the summer is tough. Here is the thing. Now I am coaching I would suggest you continue to train in the afternoon probably around 3 or 4p and use your morning for a light relaxing run. It may sound crazy but running in the heat and humidity will help in the long run. Just a suggestion. Good Luck man do what your body tells you to do.

Florida.

I start at 5:30.

I just moved to the south a few months ago, but I have spend the summer months in VERY hot climate before (Malaysia). 85F in the morning, 95-110 daytime, 70%+ humidity, smog. I thought I was absolutely crap as I was coming back from a lazy time which put my long runs somewhere way south of 8:30 pace on a hilly course out there. They were only like 10 miles long at best, then. Mostly less than that.

coming back to europe ealry october and running a flat 10 miler that same month on virtually no speed training except for a few hill repeats over the summer, I still managed to yank out a 6:45 pace, which was pretty good for me back then.

My point is, you will sweat, you will be tired, you will need to hydrate all day, and your pace will still drop considerably. But your training doesn't suffer if you keep your discipline.

Once you come back to more decent weather you will be tough. Just yank up your mileage now and you will feel MUCH better at the same mileage for winter season so you can start getting in quality stuff early on.

A good Idea is to go out there early in the morning, even on the weekends, so you can be done with your long run before 10.

I also found power gels every 45 minutes very helpful during that time.

Hope to ahve helped

Chris

I guess this has already been emphasized, but just make sure you start your longer runs (anything 10 miles or more) in the early morning, trying to finish by 8 or so.

Also, doubles are your friend. I've found that doubles are the best way to keep your mileage up in the summer in the south without destroying your body before XC season starts.

1. Jump in pool, run, jump in pool (or drench yourself with water from a hose). I have another run where I can put my head under a faucet every 2.5 miles.

2. Put ice chips in your cap; I can usually get 20 minutes of comfort from their gradual melting.

3. Drink BEFORE and after a run.

4. I just run slower (and accept it) in the heat.

Another simple and easy tip, when doing track workouts have a bottle of water frozen during the day. Bring it with you, when it melts you're going to have some ice cold water. Pour some on your head before the start of every interval, it is COLD and cools your body off greatly before the start.

This is the only thing that helps me get through track workouts in the summer. Keep some cold water handy and keep your body cool.

I'm going to be moving to the south soon. IS there a type of vitamin you should take to help replenish?

I ran for UGA and honestly, you get used to it. I ran 100+ miles/week and ran at 8:00 AM every morning, no doubles. It was still about 85 degrees out at the start of those runs and closer to 95 at the end. Just make sure you drink A LOT of water and you'll be fine.

I pretty much like the heat. If you don't, you should realize it is going to get worse before it gets better around October 1. Then you will have 7 good months. The thread has lots of good advice but if you are going to be there a long time your best races will be in the spring. Start planning that way now.

I live in Virginia and have a superhuman sweat rate (seriously, it's my greatest talent). I love the post about praying for storms as in college I would sometimes time my runs to try and catch a t-storm blowing in (the breeze would feel phenomenol)! But that's not the safest thing so I don't necessarily reccomend it. Here's my advice...

1. As others have said you are battling three things - 1. straight up high temperatures, 2. unbearable humidity, and 3. hot sun. You should never really have to deal with #3 as going early or late takes care of it plus it's not that hard to find shady routes. For me humidity was always much worse than higher temperatures (because it would make me sweat so much) so I do most of my running later than 6:00 at night and it's really hot closer to 7 or 8. It's not bad while you're out there.* But if the humidity doesn't bother you so much then I would say start your runs before 8 in the morning. I think that's best because it give you the whole day to recover.

*The problem with running at 7:00 at night is after 10 miles in still hot conditions you're pretty dehydrated. So now you have to hydrate like a crazy-man, eat dinner, and still try and get to bed at a decent hour (assuming you work at least some of the time and/or are doubling). And dehydration causes loss of appetite so eating enough to recover becomes that much harder. But all the same I prefer that to the morning.

2. Run slower and trust that you'll still be fit.* I used to get really upset that the same 9 mile run I was effortlessly cruising in 55 minutes back in April had now turned into a strained 61 minute run. So then I'd try and run harder to prove to myself I was still fit and all that did was train me into the ground.

*When the weather breaks in mid-September (or maybe October for your state) your times will drop without any effort. It always works that way. Just get the work in and trust yourself.

3. I basically had to deal with the fact that every run over 70 minutes was going to be a struggle. Nothing like doing a 2 hour run where your last 50 minutes are 30-45 seconds slower per mile than your first 75. There's really three things you can do about this - 1. Don't do long runs or limit them (not sure how I feel about that). 2. Try harder to get water/carbs on your run. I wish I had hid water bottles when I was younger but I didn't want to seem like a Runner's World type guy. Instead I would just "deathmarch" home on my long runs. Take the extra time to stash water/gatorade whatever on your runs - it helps. Or run with a friend, start at one person's house and run to the other - pound fluids (a hose in the back is gold) - then run back. Try and keep moving though (don't stop for 10 minutes to hit on the dude's sister, drink and go). 3. Instead of sticking to a strict schedule try and pop that long run on the best day for it. For example, if it rains on a Wednesday but you had planned on going long on Saturday (but it's supposed to be 95 and sunny on Saturday) then do your long run on Wednesday. Obviously this isn't ideal and you have to be somewhat intelligent with it (don't run long 2 out of 3 days and then not again for 17 days) but it might save you a little misery.

Good luck.

Also, if you happen to live in a bigger city, you may wawnt to consider joining a club. Not because these people necessarily run up to your standard, but because some of the southern clubs in the bigger cities will meet early in the morning for long runs on the weekends. They have set routes along which you find a few water stations. my 13/15 mile long run has a club water station in the park where we start and finish and 2 other water stations along the way. so at mile 5 and 9/11 I find cool water and electrolyte drinks.

And to be honest, there is no shame in stopping for drinks for a minute or so. it's just false pride...

1. 7:00AM and 7:00PM

2. Keep it slow. I run 6:20 miles on easy days during the winter and 7:30 miles during the summer with the same exertion.

3. Your sweat won't evaporate very well in the humidity, I actually get away with 2 hour runs without replenishing fluids, but if you like to maintain pace and effort you better replenish (I don't mind slowing down or increasing effort to work on fat utilization).

4. Good luck.

I am a lifelong central VA resident and a exercise physiology degree holder. Without repeating what else has been said here is the science of what happens during extended exercise in hot weather-

-Some people on here mentioned that you will get used to it. Heat acclimation happens after 2 weeks of exercise in your new climate. The human body's ability to adapt to change is amazing. Increased plasma volume, earlier onset of sweating, higher sweat rate and reduced loss of salt in sweat, and reduced skin blood flow are some of benefits.

-While this is happening be aware of what happens during exercise bouts-cardiac drift is the big thing to look out for. Cardiac output (the amount of oxygen rich blood that is pumped to working muscles and organs, we will call it Q) is a product of heart rate X stroke volume. In hot weather stroke volume (the amount of O2 rich blood that gets pumped with a heartbeat) is reduced due to fluid loss and cooling needs for cutaneous vasodilation (increased skin blood flow allowing for heat loss) so in order to maintain Q, HR must continue to increase due to the loss of SV. The higher that HR drifts during submaximal exercise (ie-anything not a race) the more trouble you are in!

I start my summer runs at 5:30 AM. If I have to run later in the day, I'll just do it, but most of the running is before the sun is really up.

RE: hydration: I don't know what you guys are talking about not hydrating during the run if it is less than an hour and a half. That would dehydrate me too much. Less than an hour I can see, but more than that, I either stop at a water fountain or carry water. It's not a big deal. During the winter, you bring gloves. During the summer, you bring water. It's not a sign of weakness to have it.

For me it's the sun that makes things tough, not the heat and humidity. If you have to run during day time, try to find a trail shaded with trees.

I have lived in alabama my whole life and have run 50-70mpw most summers for 5yrs. and personally i really enjoy the night run for one thing i don't feel like i'm trying to beat the clock by trying to finish my run before the sun comes up and i prefer running by feel instead of time about half the time, so when i feel good i run 8-10 when i don't i might go 4 or so and it doesn't matter b/c it's not 6 or 7am and i'm trying to get to work but honestly you'll adjust eventually if u keep at it

I've lived in louisiana all my life, go to college here now and doing 50-80 mpw throughout the summer. All the advice that has been given is pretty accurate.

If you wanna get any kinda of decent miles in tho you HAVE TO DOUBLE. I'm not a morning person but you need to get up by 7:30 at the latest and i wouldnt suggest doing over 7 miles in the morning and saving the longer runs for the evening 7:30 at the earliest. Remember its all about getting your heart rate up for a certain amount of time, so if you can do that by running 7:30+ mile pace then do it, all your trying to do is build up aerobic capacity. Drink water before your run and have some by your bed at night for your morning run to sip on throughout the night b4 falling asleep. Hydration is serious in the south.

You're a runner and moved to GA, AL, MS or FL, voluntarily?

My only tip is to bring a compass and run in the direction of the arrow pointing to "N".