Hot and humid. When you can't sweat and cool off, that is the worst. I was a bigger, more muscular runner, so cold weather was always great. My fastest middle distance times came when it was about 40 degrees out.
Hot and humid. When you can't sweat and cool off, that is the worst. I was a bigger, more muscular runner, so cold weather was always great. My fastest middle distance times came when it was about 40 degrees out.
Florida.
gastly wrote:
Heat and high humidity.
Anywhere in the South in July and August. So draining.
You can dress against cold and wet, but there's nothing you can do about heat and humidity.
I agree with this and it's not just the South. I live in the Philadelphia area and July and August (and sometimes June) are brutal. This is worse than cold rain because those conditions are transient.
Soft.
Anything colder than -30, nothing worse than wearing 10lb of layers to stay warm with no skin exposed to cold air to avoid frostbite. Face mask iced up and chafes face. My eyeballs feel cold in those conditions, every step is awful.
freezing rain wrote:
freezing rain and windy. wind makes it so cold plus the rain actually makes you wanna die. at least with snow you can just bundle up but nothing saves you from that damn rain. leaves you frozen and soaked until you can get inside and get changed
This happens sooo often in maine
I think this one probably wins.
forgotmypassword wrote:
Rain, wind, 30s. = Boston Marathon 2018. The worst conditions I have ever run in and I had to run 26.22.
I agree. I ran Boston in the terrible weather of 2018. I run outside all winter long in Michigan. I will move to treadmill below 10 degrees. I can run comfortably most of the time down to 10 degrees. I may be cold for the first few miles but will warm up and maybe sweat just a little if dressed properly. With the constant rain during the 2018 race one could not stay dry. At times there would be about 10 seconds or longer periods of downpour during the race. I ran in the summer of 2020 in the middle of the day often even when the temperature hit 90s's with heat index of about 100. I just made sure I had access to water at a couple locations along my route. On a rail to trail I drove out 3 miles before my run to a parking lot next to woods were I hid one bottle of water for drinking and another to pour over my head and down my back. With the water I actually did not mind running in the heat.
Heat is my kryptonite. I love running in the cold Irish winter rain. Now I'm in Arizona and summertime is death...
weathR wrote:
I think that below 0, hailing, and windy (not that uncommon in Iowa)
I’m being difficult, but as someone who’s lived in Iowa/on Earth longer than you have, I’d say this sub-0 F/hailing combo would be extremely rare, if not virtually impossible.
Performance wise - hot and humid.
Get out the door wise - cold. Always takes 20 minutes longer to get myself up and out the door for a cold run or ride vs a hot run or ride.
Therefore because I am not a professional - I will take hot and humid any day of the week over freezing my ass off.
The only weather I can't tolerate is bright, low sun, especially when it strobes as I'm passing trees, fences etc. It does something weird to my head - I'd rather run in icy rain. Give me cloud every day.
freezing rain wrote:
freezing rain and windy. wind makes it so cold plus the rain actually makes you wanna die. at least with snow you can just bundle up but nothing saves you from that damn rain. leaves you frozen and soaked until you can get inside and get changed
Freezing Rain and wind is obviously the correct answer. Unless we're talking an extreme situation like below -20 or Hurricane this is easy. Even in very cold temp or snow you do not get chilled like wind and rain.
The only alternate I could put out there is very hot temps in excess of 115F may be more brutal, especially if you are not used to them. You dehydrate so quickly in these conditions.
Outside a traditional natural disaster like a tornado, t-storm, hurricane, wildfire, I'd say one of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI-dO7RI3lE
The worst I've run in is lightning but I imagine a hurricane or tornado might be as bad or worse.
Some of the weather extremes others have mentioned depend upon your distance. I can handle a 5 mile run at 90 degrees easier than I can handle 5 miles at 5 degrees but I can handle a 2 hour run at 5 degrees easier than I can handle a two hour run at 90 or more degrees with matching humidity.
one day this winter it was -22 wind chill. that was tough.
sure you can, yaktrax! i run on the frozen lake when there isn't too much snow!
12pm, July 30th, no clouds, full sun in Florida.
Wind and big hail, just over freezing, especially if deeply underdressed.
Besides that though, 90+ and humid is way way way worse than like subzero for me
RunningHubby wrote:
Hot and humid. Easy to dress in layers when it's cold.
Ditto. Unless the cold has resulted in icy roads. Don’t run on ice