Tips for Running in the Summer. Did you know? Our body’s heart rate can increase up to 10 beats per minute when the humidity is over 50% – 10 beats per minute when the temperature is over 75 degrees Fahrenheit? This is why summer runnings are ridiculously difficult. However, summer can also be a challenge when the weather gets hot and humid. Although it seems like you’re slowing down, the heat can make you more active if you run along with it rather than try to beat it. Here are some tips for you to run effectively in summer.
Keeping your body hydrated
Keeping your body hydrated is the easiest way to think what’s best for summer running. This means you must drink fluids before, during, and after exercise. Our bodies need fluids to give you energy and fight with exertion, climate, exhaust, terrain, and other circumstances. The new drink recommendations for runners say that you should obey your thirst and drink when your mouth is dry, and you feel the need to drink—in summer running, knowing the fact that the season is extremely hot and you should drink lots of fluids to avoid dehydration.
Why is hydration important?
One of the greatest enemies of every athlete is dehydration that can lead to fatigue, headaches, decreased balance, nausea, and muscle pain. Being hydrated helps in preventing heat-related illnesses, such as heat stroke, which is a serious matter for the runners who love to run in summer. Aside from those discomforts, it can slow you down.
Drinking for running
Pre-run drinks, especially if you’re doing a long run or marathon (more than 7 to 10 miles), it’s a must to make sure that you’re well-hydrated during the few days before your long run. You’ll know if you’re well-hydrated when you void many volumes of pale urine at least six times a day. Drink plenty of water, at least 8-12 glasses, and non-alcoholic fluids. To keep you hydrated during running you need fluids every 15 to 20 minutes, so you need to either carry it with you or make sure it is available along the way of your runs (drinking fountain, stores, etc.) drinking small amounts of it may help your body absorb the liquid better, and you won’t have that feeling of it sloshing around in your stomach.
However, you should be aware of how much you’re drinking – too much fluid without replacing sodium, can lead to hyponatremia. If you gain weight during your runs, maybe you are drinking too much. Add a sports drink, salt shot, or salty snack to replace the sodium you’re losing when you sweat.
Run with Effort Rather Than Speed
Avoid disappointments of running by pace, then failing. Train to the set of your body — called effort-based training. Effort-based running allows you to train in the optimal zone on the given day, and avoid overexertion and delayed recovery. That tempo run is 30 to 45 seconds per mile slower in the heat of the summer, but the purpose of running is not to hit a speed record. Its purpose is to train at your full effort and to raise your healthiness throughout the season. Your body doesn’t know pace. It knows effort. And when you decrease and flow with what the day gives you, your running and performance will continue to progress at a time. Your progress may not show via your speed, take it slowly, and you will see the results.
Run Early or Late
Avoid running between 10 am to 4 pm because that’s when the sun’s intensity is at its greatest. If you must train during morning and afternoon, try to stick to shady roads or trails.
The best time to run is early in the morning since the roads have not heated up, and the sun is at the lowest intensity. However, in the late afternoon, you must take extra safety precautions during this time. Run with awareness, and always run against the traffic – it’s easier to avoid cars if you can see them against your way. You must be able to see the headlights of oncoming cars. Avoid occupied roads and those with no shoulders or sidewalks.
Choose Running Clothes Carefully and Wear Sunscreen
Your running clothes must be light-colored, loose fitted because it will help your body breathe and cool itself down easily. Tight clothing restricts your body to cool down, and dark colors more absorb the sun’s light and heat than the light color clothes. Don’t wear cotton, made clothes. Look for synthetic fabric clothes that will wick away moisture from your skin. If you want to wear something on your head to block the sunlight, wear a visor. A hat is too covered and traps heat, so consider a visor than a hat.
Protect yourself from sunlight using a waterproof sunscreen that has an SPF 15 or more and must offer broad-spectrum protection, which means it can protect against both UVA and UVB rays. Stick formulation Sunscreen is good for runners’ faces because the sunscreen won’t go into the eyes. You’ll need to reapply sunscreen if you’re running longer than 3 hours.
Be aware of your body
Watch yourself and be aware of the signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses. Your body cools itself by sweating at the same time as the heat and humidity increase, your body temperature rises and higher the chance of risk for heat-related illness. Here are the three major heat-related illnesses to avoid:
- Heatstroke – Symptoms of heat stroke include high body temperature, decreased sweating, red and dry skin, unconsciousness, unbalanced, seizures, moderate to severe difficulty breathing, and a fast heart rate.
- Heat Exhaustion – Symptoms of heat exhaustion include fatigue, dizziness, neuralgia, vomiting, incoordination, fainting, excessive sweating, and a sudden drop in blood pressure.
- Heat Cramps – Heat cramps can start while you are running excessively up to several hours after you have stopped. Typically, the muscles begin to cramp while the body is sweating heavily.
