Heat is the biggest performance limiter for humans. But its something we need to work with not against, especially in a rare hot spell in the UK! We share some tips below on how to adapt your training, the benefits of training in heat and what you can do to mitigate against it.
The benefits:
In addition to an increased rate of perspiration, training in the heat can increase your plasma volume (which leads to better cardiovascular fitness), reduce overall core temperature, reduce blood lactate, increase skeletal muscle force, and, counterintuitively, make training in temperate conditions easier. Athletes who train in warm temperatures frequently generally get better at regulating heat by sweating earlier too.
How to adapt your training?
Slow down: Heat and humidity changes the demands on the body (more blood goes to cooling and less to muscles) and a rise in core body temp will be the fatigue limiter.
Run on feel: Heat acclimatisation can take anything from 7-10 days so initially throw pace and HR out the window and focus on ´feel´ or rate of perceived exertion (RPE). A simple scale of 1-5 can work well if 1 was easy and 5 was hard for your easy runs try aim for 2/5 however slow that may be!
Take breaks: yes you can walk 1-2min mid run to cool down then go again. And instead of going off distance go off total time.
Intensity: If you are adding high intensity to your routine - use a treadmill so you can get the quality in without compromising your speed in the heat.
Lower your expectations and be flexible: Accept its going to be hard, slow down and you´ll feel the benefits down the line!
If you are training and racing regularly in the heat it makes sense to get an understanding of your sweat rate and sodium loss so you can better replenish what body needs without the guess work. Precision Hydration provide low cost testing to help equip you here. The sauna is also a tool many athletes now use in their routine to help adapt to the heat.
Enjoy!
Col
Comments