What is up with these fools running in long sleeves and sweatpants in 90 degree weather? And collared shirts?

Seriously . . It isn't in the 90s here yet but hot enough. Saturday was incredibly muggy . . and I saw long sleeves and tights. I'm not sure how they can run that way.

A few of them are trying to acclimatize themselves to heat. A few of them are trying to dress modestly. And many of them are under the impression that if they sweat more, they'll lose weight.

Victims of athleisure.

Mr. October wrote:

Seriously . . It isn't in the 90s here yet but hot enough. Saturday was incredibly muggy . . and I saw long sleeves and tights. I'm not sure how they can run that way.

Someone else mentioned athleisure, and they're not wrong. There are plenty of people who count on their athletic wear to be flattering, or they might not feel comfortable exercising in public. These people aren't necessarily overweight. It's just a by-product of a generation that has grown up with social media,

; always potentially visible to the entire world at any moment. If the whole world is a stage, you must dress the part. People don't like to play this game, but it's hard to dismantle a whole generations thinking

I see obese people walking around the park wearing trash bags. They don't even run. I figure that they just think that since high school wrestlers used to be able to lose multiple pounds in a few hours before weigh-ins by sweating, they can lose weight the same way.

For me about it's modesty, decorum, and toughing it out. Plus some runners have no idea how embarrassingly underdressed they look with their singlets and split shorts.

I had a friend who was a boxer and always wore sweatpants and a hoodie when training - he wanted to suffer/sweat more

In 2012, I ran a marathon in April and it was first 80 degree day in Colorado. I got my butt handed to me by the heat. Now, when I train for running, I wear extra layers in training, so my races and key training runs are much easier. Besides, why are US runners so scared of a little sweat, especially in training. I'd much rather be a little to uncomfortable in training, than discover I can't handle the heat or even cold during races. If you seek discomfort in training, when it counts, you'll just laugh at the runners complaining about the weather, which you can't control. However, that is just my humble opinion.

This idea that training stress is proportional to suffering has got to go.

Training for heat is a great thing to include, if you have a goal race in the heat. If you do not have a heat adaptation goal, and you have the choice between training hot and training cool...train cool.

Training hot just stresses your body out and makes it juggle thermoregulation along with the metabolic work of making you run. It goes along with the tough-guy mentality, that you are slow because you aren't tough. I let that thinking go, and focused on getting high-quality training. I think some people just got too inspired by the training montages in Rocky, where he's running with, like, a log over his back.

questioner2947 wrote:

Seriously? I live in Texas and see multiple people on the tracks and running paths each day wearing sweatshirts/long sleeve shirts and sweatpants when it’s mid-90s outside. WTF? They’re always running at 10 min/mile pace too, sweating profusely. Maybe if they wore clothes appropriate for the weather they would be able to go a little faster.

And I’ve also been seeing people (it’s always Indian people too for some reason) wearing collared shirts on their runs. What inspired this post is that I just saw a dude wearing a BUTTON DOWN SHIRT and JEANS going on a jog with headphones in earlier today. Just why?

Anyone else see weird stuff like this?

With regard to the Indians, I think it's just a lack of exercise culture there, so some people don't know they're "supposed" to wear different clothes for running. This mainly seems to be older people, though.

People are funny, aren’t they?

I’m not really bothered by what people do or don’t wear. In fact, I really enjoy seeing diversity in terms of apparel and training. Everyone can enjoy running in their own way.

Times were it was strange for an adult to run recreationally. Exercise fashion is always changing, but the more people who come to find enjoyment in running, the better.

There is no one true way.

AverageJoesGym262 wrote:

In 2012, I ran a marathon in April and it was first 80 degree day in Colorado. I got my butt handed to me by the heat. Now, when I train for running, I wear extra layers in training, so my races and key training runs are much easier. Besides, why are US runners so scared of a little sweat, especially in training. I'd much rather be a little to uncomfortable in training, than discover I can't handle the heat or even cold during races. If you seek discomfort in training, when it counts, you'll just laugh at the runners complaining about the weather, which you can't control. However, that is just my humble opinion.

I had almost the exact same thing happen to me. After that, I always trained in extra layers in the Spring to acclimatize to heat. I did a lot of goofy stuff. Driving around with the car heater turned up to max heat when it was 80 outside. Running on the treadmill in a winter hat and gloves, long sleeves and pants. It wasn't all the time, but the goal was to acclimatize to heat.

That being said, I think Benji Durden used to advocate heat training as a way to simulate altitude training. I'm pretty sure it's in an old thread somewhere, and I have no idea if there's any science supporting it.

I still people wearing those plastic weight loss suits. (It seems every time they are either black or latino.) I think the idea is that exercise has to be terrible, painful, and the more uncomfortable the better it is for you. A very old school mentality that fitness is about being "tough".

If it's hot it's ridiculous to not dress for optimal comfort. If you are comfortable, you can exercise longer and hopefully get a bigger benefit.

questioner2947 wrote:

What inspired this post is that I just saw a dude wearing a BUTTON DOWN SHIRT and JEANS going on a jog with headphones in earlier today. Just why?

He's training for Blue Jean Mile WR, duh

No shame wrote:

For me about it's modesty, decorum, and toughing it out. Plus some runners have no idea how embarrassingly underdressed they look with their singlets and split shorts.

It's running. that's what you run in for best performance. So they are not embarrassingly under dressed. You are embarrassingly over dressed for the activity and environment.

TNRunnah wrote:

I still people wearing those plastic weight loss suits. (It seems every time they are either black or latino.) I think the idea is that exercise has to be terrible, painful, and the more uncomfortable the better it is for you. A very old school mentality that fitness is about being "tough".

If it's hot it's ridiculous to not dress for optimal comfort. If you are comfortable, you can exercise longer and hopefully get a bigger benefit.

I went running with a girl the other day, she comes out in full length tights, long sleeve shirt and a wind breaker. Says she wants to sweat. lol. Ok. whatever.

Protect their skin from harmful uv rays.

Maybe it’s the only clean stuff they have.

Maybe they’ve been inside with AC full blast and didnt realize how hot it is outside.

Maybe they like being hot.

Guy on my high school team back in the day used to wear a Lacoste polo to practice every day. Very odd. Wasn't terrible either, could run like a 17:30 5K.