Training in the summer heat

It's been a long time since I posted here....too long. Upon reading Camille Herron's blog (camilleherron.com), she reminded me of how I had a revelation last summer training in the heat. On a 90F day, the first thing a runner typically does is to lose their T-shirt. For most, this seems to feel better than the expected heavy sweating, somewhat uncomfortable as your shirt starts sticking to your body. However, we quickly forget why we sweat and what its function is, other than an annoyance. Obviously, the answer is natures way of cooling our bodies.

Last summer we had a pretty cool Spring (for Atlanta), so I really got used to running in a T-Shirt until mid June, when the mercury started its rapid rise. I was training for Mt. Washington, thus doing quite a lot of hill running. If you haven't done much hill training, you cannot appreciate how much it makes you work.....and sweat. Therefore, as I resumed 'flat terrain' running I did not find the need to go shirtless, except for workouts. I started to feel cooler while wearing a shirt than without. I am not big into science but it appears this was due to surrounding my body with sweat on the shirt, thus cooling down my bodies core. It takes a week or two to get used to, but you forget the distraction in time, just as you did after getting used to wearing a watch for the first few times, or a wedding ring.

Last week it was consistantly 90-92F on my lunch time runs with quite high humidity. This week was a little cooler with the temperature averaging 85F. I actually felt quite comfortable running in a shirt. So go on out there in your favorite coolmax, afterall does anyone really want to see you with a shirt on?


Next Blog: Injuries, stretching and how to train post 40.