Humidity

I feel like crap when the humidity is high unless it's real cool out then it doesn't matter that much. This may be the wrong question for someone who's done 9 marathons but you did drink plenty of water right?

Yes....I know I was well hydrated

Having lived in the South my whole life, I can say that I would trade humidity for heat any day. The problem with humidity is that it makes your system less efficient (more water in the air) and also, your body does not cool as quickly. The way sweating works is that your body excretes it on the skin, and the action of evaporation produces a cooling effect. The problem in a very humid environment is that this sweat does not have a chance to evaporate, so the intended purpose of cooling does not occur. Unless it's so cool out that you aren't sweating too much (in my case, less than 50 degrees), the humidity will still get you. Everything I've said above is paraphrased from science classes and internet research, so I'm sure someone on here has a more solid basis and studies to quote from.

Thank you for your imput!

Humidity also can have an altitude effect (if you have an 80degree dew pt. that is equal to running at 5000ft.....with the amount of useable O2 available)

humidity is the amount of water vapor (greenhouse gas) that is in the air (actually its % of the total amount of water vapor the air can store at that temperature)

Dans wild weather page:

http://www.wildwildweather.com/humidity.htm

Anyway at altitude there is less atmosphere which means less of all the different gases that make up our atmosphere (decreased in the same ratio for the most part....hence O2 still makes up 21% of the atmosphere available, but there is 40% less atmosphere. In humidity the amount of avilable useable O2 decreases since most of the % is bonded in the water vapor molecule....there is still 21%, so like altitude you are taking in less O2.

A 63 dew pt (which you had) can be uncomfortable but the altitude effect is minimal

i would say the humidity plays a big factor. i came from the southwest, and am know in the midwest running xc out here, and i'm not coping to well with humidity. it kills me alot more than dry heat did. i'm fining it harder to race in humid weather than hot dry weather.

Thanks for the imput. I appreciate it!

I'm from the south and concur with the posts above. I would trade in humidity for heat any day.

Running around in high humidity is like staying locked up in a steam room, and I can't stand saunas or steam rooms.

I have no problem with having the sun shine down on me and feeling my skin bake a little (as long as the humidity is low).

Would that be the Quad Cities Marathon? I Ran, er tried to run, the half. I had to dog it in because of a back injury but the first few miles before the back rigged up were a good 5 seconds a mile slower than they should be. Higher humidity means you evaporate less sweat which means your body cools itself slower which means your body has to spend more energy cooling itself. That means less energy going to your legs to move you faster. Basically you'll feel just fine, you'll feel like you're running 5:20 miles, but you're in fact running 5:25. The more longer races I run the more I'm convinced thermoregulation is one of the key factors in performance for longer races. Read the current version of Lore of Running. Noakes goes into great detail.

Alan

Fox Cities, but I heard Quad Cities Marathon weather was similar.

Definitely.

I CAN NOT run well in humidity. Heat--no problem. Add humidity, I'm done. It's one of those things also, that I just can NOT acclimitize to. It was a very humid summer here, so I ran almost every day in humid conditions and never adjusted to it.

Example--I ran a 10 mile road race at 68F, but very muggy--58 minutes (tapered and everything)and I felt like I was going to die at the end. 3 weeks later ran an accurate 10 mile "tempo" effort on a hilly course on a 65F, but dry day--56:13, and I didn't even work that hard.

For me, humidity is THE killer of an intended good race.

I find that humidity makes it much harder. I have lived in the southeast for three years, and find that I just can't adapt to the humidity, regardless of my level of fitness. It sucks!

Give me 90 degrees and low humidity over 83-85 degrees and moderately high humidity any day. Another factor is direct sunshine. I'm sure everyone knows temperatures are measured in the shade, so direct sunshine can easily add 5 to 10 degrees. Humidity and direct sunshine are the real killers.

very humid here today. I was aiming for 12-14 miles, after 9 steady miles I was wasted and had to walk 3 miles home.