The dew point in Mombasa today is 77 degrees

sounds like perfect conditions to race an all out XC 12k.

"On July 18, Syracuse, N.Y., tied its all-time record high dew point temperature of 77 degrees, set July 4, 1999. That dew point boosted the 91 degrees high temperature to a heat index of 104 degrees."

Hmmm... Then why was the NCAA nats at LSU and TX ? Why are the USATF nats in Indy this year again ? Why will the NCAA nats be at Arkansas ? And so forth. Those places suck in the summer. The humidity is terrible.

malmo wrote:

To give you an idea how bad that is:

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/July05/NRCC-dewpoints.bpf.htmlhttp://climate.umn.edu/doc/twin_cities/mspdewpoint.htm

"Humans tend to react with discomfort to high dew points. Those accustomed to continental climates often begin to feel uncomfortable when the dew point reaches between 15 and 20 °C (59 to 68 °F). Most inhabitants of these areas will consider dew points above 21 °C (70 °F) to be oppressive."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_point

10 day forecast

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/KEXX0008?from=36hr_fcst10DayLink_business

Anyone know what the dew point was in Athens?

My point is the Olympics and World champs are often in very warm conditions. The athletes have to deal with it if they want to be the Worlds best.

Thankfully Bekele didn't decide it was too warm to run World s this year. And i'm pretty sure he'll be on the line in Beijing as well.

Usually the olympics are often at night so that brings down the temperature some but I don't see the top guys in the world skipping worlds because it is too hot.

guess they'll have to grow a pair

Last summer I had ran on a day when the dew point was 81. I had to cut the run in half. That was the longest and slowest 5 miles of my life. I wonder how many people are going to pace out in the races?

Joe Lieberman wrote:

Hmmm... Then why was the NCAA nats at LSU and TX ? Why are the USATF nats in Indy this year again ? Why will the NCAA nats be at Arkansas ? And so forth. Those places suck in the summer. The humidity is terrible.

Are you asking a question, making a statement or just plain don't know what point you're trying to make? Presumably you are suggesting that it's NOT hot in June in those cities, or it IS hot? Which is it? The reason why NCAAs are at any venue is because those schools happen to be the ones who bid for the meets. Simple.

The heat and humidity in places like Austin, Baton Rouge are great for most of the events. Only two out of 20 events are adversely affected by heat. The 5000 and 10000 are run in the evening to mitigate the effects to a small degree. It's still nasty.

Secondly NONE of those cities you've listed (including Austin TX) even approach the oppressive conditions you will find in Mombasa in March. A 77 degree dew point has an enormous amount of energy trapped in the air. It makes it virtually impossible for the body to cool itself during or after strenuous exercise.

March

Mombasa 88/77 Dew point avg 74

June

Indy 78/58 DP avg 59

Sacto 89/58 DP avg 51

Baton Rouge 88/68 DP avg 66

Austin 89/70 DP avg 64

I think Sacratomatoe was fine, it has dry heat. The humdity at Duke, Tx, Lsu, Athens, and Indy was disgusting. Boise St, Eugene, Carson, Sacratomatoe was fine. The Japanese run well in the humidity, it's wickedly hot and humid in Japan in the summer, the whole Japan World Cross team of 26 athlete will be in Mombasa.

wejo wrote:

Anyone know what the dew point was in Athens?

My point is the Olympics and World champs are often in very warm conditions. The athletes have to deal with it if they want to be the Worlds best.

Weldon, look up past threads. I pointed out during the games that the conditions were nowhere near the oppressive conditions that were being predicted. In fact, the predictions didn't even jibe with the historical records.

wejo wrote:

Anyone know what the dew point was in Athens?

As I said there is often a mistaken perception when it comes to temperature and humidity.

M 10k 8/20/04 10:30pm 77 degrees 39% RH DP 55 degrees

W mar 8/22/04 6:00pm 86 degrees 58% RH DP 56 degrees

M 5k 8/28/04 9:00pm 75 degrees 38% RH DP 50 degrees

M mar 8/29/04 6:00pm 80 degrees 51% RH DP 54 degrees

Here's something that should illustrate to exactly what Mombasa is like in terms you'll understand. Mombasa in March vs Houston in July

Mombasa March Avg hi-lo-dew point

88-77-74

Houston Texas July Avg hi-lo-dew point

91-75-73

Does the uncomfortable weather matter if everyone is racing the same race? The Kenyans may have an advantage if they are used to it, but other than that, everyone will be facing the exact same elements.

did you run NCAA Track championships in Austin, in 1974? It was Baton Rouge the year before, when Pre won his last 3 mile.

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

Does the uncomfortable weather matter if everyone is racing the same race? The Kenyans may have an advantage if they are used to it, but other than that, everyone will be facing the exact same elements.

The Kenyans aren't used to it at all. The highlands where virtually all of the Kenyans are based is very cool, averaging just two days per year over 85 degrees.

As I recall the Kenyan contingent isn't traveling to Mombasa until right before the meet.

The main advantage the Kenyans will have, besides being fast, is that their body mass is low, which is an enormous advantage in the heat.

You can't teach small.

hot and humid wrote:

did you run NCAA Track championships in Austin, in 1974? It was Baton Rouge the year before, when Pre won his last 3 mile.

No. That would have been quite a bit over my head. I ran Jr Nationals that year.

equator.....duh.

Clark wrote:

equator.....duh.

I think you made a fool of yourself with your "duh" moment.

malmo wrote:

Here's something that should illustrate to exactly what Mombasa is like in terms you'll understand. Mombasa in March vs Houston in July

Mombasa March Avg hi-lo-dew point

88-77-74

Houston Texas July Avg hi-lo-dew point

91-75-73

I grew up in Dallas and I would never go run during July or August in the afternoon. EVER. But the average high is 96 in Dallas. Yes Dallas is drier than Houston. But it's also 5 degrees warmer according to these stats. (I just googled it an I showed Houston being an average of 93 and 94 in July and August which is closer to what I thought not that different from Dallas)

88 is another 3 degrees cooler. It will be interesting to see how hot that feels. Considering it was 60 here last week and I felt like it was 80, I think I'm in for it.

But that doesn't stop the fact there is a World champs being run. Some guys would race it in Antarctica.

I guess I shouldn't have gone to the Pan Am Games once I found out it was hot. It would have prevented me from dropping out.

But the

I'm not looking forward to going home to Fort Worth this summer for that reason. There's only a short amount of time before 9am or the 7-8pm time slot when it is somewhat comfortable to run (but still usually in the 90s) and there is still daylight. Unfortunately, I have summer school and work, so I will once again be a slave to the treadmill.

Houston has to be worse though. Humidity does have a detrimental effect. Comparing Lubbock to D/FW, it can be 100 degrees in both places, but it would be near impossible to run in D/FW.

Come to think of it, I did have summer track when I was in high school and would race and have workouts sometimes in the afternoons. I don't know if they still have those Ricky Cox Trinity 5ks, but we would race those each week. I hated how he always warned us about heat exhaustion ("slow down if you need to...") right before the start of the race. We knew it was hot, but we didn't want to be reminded.