Does anyone know of amy studies done on heat/humidity and how much it affects distance running performances? For example: An individual runs 10K on a 85 degree day with 90% humidity in 33:00. How much faster could that person have run on a cool fall morning (50 degree temps and low humidity)?
The Kemper 10K this morning in Chicago was brutal!
dude all i know is this shit bites the big one...im ready for fall weather
I think Jack Daniels Running Formula has some "heat equivalencies" in it - I don't know off the top of my head what they are. Also Joe Henderson's Better Runs might have some table in it too. You could go to any B&N or Borders and look it up and save some $$$. Caveat: As I remember JD's book doesn't really give you a break for heat in races under 45 minutes duration or so.
My understanding just in terms of heat is 1 second slower for every degree over 70 per each mile. So in 80 degree weather you body runs a 5:20, it is as if it has run a 5:10 in 70 degree weather. It sounds a bit much, but it is soley based on the effort your body must make to achieve a particular performance. The humdity is a whole nother factor - don't know what to factor in for that.[quote]jd wrote:
A 33:00 10K in those conditions probably translates to very low 32's in cooler condtitions, maybe even a minute faster.
Also, like anything else, some acclimate better to it than others depending on your environment. I went to college in the deep south where I ran cross country. Every August, we would report to school and the guys on our team who trained at altitude from Colorado would just get stomped for several weeks, until it cooled off in October. That is when their cooler altitude training kicked in and they began to kick our tails.
Had the weather been suitable, we were looking for a winning time in the high 28's. Matter of fact, John's slowest 10k of 2002 prior to this race was 28:53, so you can draw your own conclusions. I'd say conditions were easily worth a minute.
Wags-
I was looking to win, but I think the heat slowed me down at least seven minutes. I kicked the third girl's ass though.