Deep South Runners: How do you keep 60-80m/w in the Summer

I have run in central Texas heat for many years as well as in most of the 50 states at one time or another.

I find carrying two 16 oz bottles of ice helps more than anything. The ice cools me off as I run and provides cold fluids, as needed. I lose about one pound per mile on bad days. I sometimes pick up two more frozen bottles at about the 5 mile mark of runs.

Two-a-days help, as does doing some runs on treadmills. Getting your core temp down quickly after a run helps speed recovery for the next one.

The relative humidity in the mornings kills me. So, running at 5:30 at night is sometimes better even though the temp may be 20 or 25 degrees warmer. Keep to the shady side of the street. Varying things helps avoid the mental grind of running day after day in the heat.

Now here is a question for Malmo that I have tried reckoning with and am still not sure about the physics involved. When the dewpoint (or relative humidity either one) is high, is there functionally (as far as being available for your red blood cells is concerned) less oxygen in the air than when dewpoint or RH is lower since water molecultes compose a greater part of each liter of air? Is it similar to altitude in its effects on available oxygen? It seems like I have trouble breathing in very humid weather, but I am not sure if my speculation is correct.

Having cycled for a summer, I can tell you that heat is a positive good in riding where wind resistance cutting through the air is a factor, since the density of warm air is lower than cold air. So would this density have an effect on running in terms of available oxygen? I may be way off base in this speculation.

I can second everything said here. I live in Ecuador, as the name attests, its also on the equator, and similar to singapore. I had a choice, live in Quito, at 10,000ft with climate similar to the west, or live in Guayaquil at sea level with climate like singapore. I chose sealevel- it was easier.

You get used it. I don´t train any different than I would if the weather was more optimal. I do my speedwork, I do my long runs I do everything normally, at speeds I think are normal for me. It´s been so long since i´ve ran in "normal" weather, I have no idea what I could do.

I find there are three critical points to take into account when running in these types of climates:

1. All runs must finish at 7:00AM. Figure out how long it will take you to do your workout, do the math, and wake up at the time you need it. If it´s a long run, you could possibly stretch that to 8:00AM, but finishing any later than that is just plain stupid.

2. I hydrate all day long, as I feel thirsty (and you will!) it becomes a way of life.

3. When the climate starts getting hotter, or stickier, or more uncomfortable than normal, cut your long run down to the minimum that you can live with, wipe your calandar free of hard workouts, and just do easy runs for 2-3 weeks. Your body will adjust, and you can go back to running the same workouts, the same intensity and in my case, the same speed as before.

I´ve also played with running in the morning or at night, I tend to prefer the morning. I´ve always thought that it is because the earth still emits heat radiation from the sun after it goes down, and there for it is hotter/more difficult, however in the morning the earth has cooled off the whole night, and the temps are the lowest just before sunrise. Wether this is the answer or not, I don´t know, but it always seems easier for me in the morning

Altoroad, when were you on the Mountain? I finished up my career at Sewanee in 2008.

shakerag runner wrote:

Altoroad, when were you on the Mountain? I finished up my career at Sewanee in 2008.

I was there 1980-84. As it turns out, I'll be there next week, and may actually see if I can still run Alto road.

You probably don't want my 2 cents but I live in Palm Beach county, fl and I'm in my mid 50s, a little overweight and female. I do most of my runs in the early morning before the sun comes up. While training for the NY marathon last summer, I would start my long runs between 4:30 - 5:00am and started doing loops to change water bottles at even intervals. I also froze water bottles to keep cold water going in, used electrolyte drops in the water, too. Since I am on the coast and run by the beach, I cold stop and run water over my head at the beach showers when it got really brutal. I was very slow, too, just couldn't keep any pace near my goal long run for the marathon, just got the mileage in at whatever pace I could get through. NY weather was wonderful! I felt great the 2/3rds then hit a wall but finished.

For me anything over 65 degrees is oppressive.

Brian wrote:

Now here is a question for Malmo that I have tried reckoning with and am still not sure about the physics involved. When the dewpoint (or relative humidity either one) is high, is there functionally (as far as being available for your red blood cells is concerned) less oxygen in the air than when dewpoint or RH is lower since water molecultes compose a greater part of each liter of air? Is it similar to altitude in its effects on available oxygen? It seems like I have trouble breathing in very humid weather, but I am not sure if my speculation is correct..

Your speculation is correct, there is a simulative altitude effect from humidity.

Water vapor replaces dry air giving few molecules or O2 per unit than dry air. Water vapor is also less dense than dry air, which means that the air density is also lower.

Pilots, especially of private aircraft have to be aware of this for a couple of reasons: 1) take off speeds and horsepower requirements change, and 2) for those near mountains, the altitude ceilings change.

When I get a chance I'll dig up an air density calculator to illustrate the concept for you. As I recall, the effects of humidity on altitude density varies from 0 to a couple of thousand feet, depending on your ground elevation, temperature and humidity.

Bonus points to whoever can tell be where the driest place on the earth is.

Goober formerly known asPoster wrote:

Bonus points to whoever can tell be where the driest place on the earth is.

Antartica.

The consensus is actually the atacama desert in Chile.

altoroad wrote:

altoroad wrote:

Antartica.

oops -- Antarctica.

Goober formerly know asPoster wrote:

The consensus is actually the atacama desert in Chile.

Only in Al Gore's mind is there a consensus. Antarctica is the driest place on Earth.

I guess the geologists who devoted their lives to the earth that were on the discovery channel are bias.

malmo wrote:

Goober formerly know asPoster wrote:

The consensus is actually the atacama desert in Chile.

Only in Al Gore's mind is there a consensus. Antarctica is the driest place on Earth.

If records at altitude are "aided", is there support for heat/humidity to be a factor in adjustment?

Goober formerly know asPoster wrote:

I guess the geologists who devoted their lives to the earth that were on the discovery channel are bias.

Supporting a false statement with false attribution is one of the biggest logical fallacies there is. Let it go.

Mrs. M wrote:

If records at altitude are "aided", is there support for heat/humidity to be a factor in adjustment?

Records set at altitude are fully certifiable.

Brian, here's an air density calculator.

I live in SE Asia...

totally resigned to run much slower in Summer (even 20"/km at equal effort...) in order to keep a decent mileage.

Apart from the dissertation in thermodynamics, I have a couple of issues to raise and enjoy some feed-back:

1) rehydratation: It is common to lose 2-2.5 Liters/hour in tropical weather

So after a 2 hours long run, a runner would need to drink at least 4 or more liters.

It is a huge intake and very likely to cause some gastrointestinal distress. I personally feel very bloated with the feeling to have sea-waves in the gut...

2) gait and running stride: because of the "thermal drift", it is unavoidable to run slower and slower during the run (unless the runner considerably increases his effort).

Personally after 50' in 90F/30C and high humidity I totally lose a good stride and basically crawl .

So I always felt that it would be much better for my neuromuscular conditioning to avoid running over 45' and run doubles to keep up the mileage.

(better 40'+40' of "clean" running in doubles than crawling around for a daily single of 70-80')

It also gives time to rehydrate in a more gradual way (the sweat loss would be only 1.5kg or so).

So this coming summer I will really try to do doubles and see how it goes