I live down south, Ive run in the summer all my life, but somewhere around age 38-40 I seem to have lost my ability to run in the heat.
I can run and train well, race my (old) tail off in the winter, spring, and fall, but when the temps get up to the mid-80s or higher I'm reduced to a slow slow slog.
Anyone else found this to be true?
bumping my own thread
yeah - I hear this a lot from my colleagues in their 40s
Mid-80s is nothing. I live in the south too. The summers here (Houston) can be brutal. But if I am in pretty good shape going in to the summer I can handle the heat. Here you can pick your poison: running in the morning when the average humidity in the summer is 98 and the LOW may be 82 or can run in the evening with less humidity but I recall running 2 summers ago with temps as high as 107. That is when just survival kicks in. The weather doesn't really affect me until the temps start reaching the mid-90s. Actually, the worst conditions I have found is when it rains, quits raining and the sun comes out with the humidity so brutally high.
I know mid80's isn't really "hot" but I dont want this to be a p!ssing contest of "OH yeah lemme tell you about HOT!"
My question is more geared toward those that have found their ability to deal with the heat (insert your own definition of "heat" here) as they've aged is similar to what I've noticed.
it sounds like a cliche...but I do find (age 46) that the better shape I'm in...the less the heat hurts me.
and I certainly play with my mind - go do workouts in the hottest weather, etc. If I start trying to avoid heat...it becomes more of an obstacle. But I face it and train for it, it's just one more thing - like a hill I know is coming.
I am 47 living in SC where the heat and humidity is horrible to deal with. Start of the summer my times slow down a lot and it kills me. Later in the evening is the best for me to run but since I coach XC we have morning practice and afterschool practice in the fall. That is the worst time. I drink a lot of water, add more salt. When I am in good shape it is not as bad when I am out of shape and it does take time to get use to the heat.