Training in Heat for Cold Races

Audio Transcript

Michael Hammond: Hey Runners Connect fans. Welcome to another episode of the Run to the Top Extra Kick podcast.

I’m here to answer a question from Logan about training in the heat but for cold weather races.

Logan: I have a question about training and racing in the heat. Right now, I’m training in hot weather because it’s summer, so it stands to reason that that would produce some sort of benefit of heat adaptation, for a race that’s being held in warm weather.

My question is, does that same concept translate to a race held in cooler weather? In other words, if I’m training in 95°F heat, and the race is being held in a cooler climate, let’s say 60°F, is that same benefit carried over?

For example, should I adjust my paces to compensate for the cooler temperature? Thanks for answering my question.

Michael: That’s a great question, Logan. First off, this is the better situation to be in, in terms of the two extremes.

I don’t want to diminish this, but this is the easier situation to deal with. For people who train in colder weather and then go race in the heat, that’s a tough situation to be in.

From my own experience and experience working with hundreds of different runners on that exact type of scenario, the only thing you can do is diminish the impact.

You can’t ever totally acclimate. If you are training every single day, if you don’t have the option to go somewhere warmer to train, which most people don’t, there is not a whole lot you can do.

Of course, there’s things that people try, and some of those are to run at the hottest time of the day, or run with more clothes than you need, or crank up the thermostat in your house to get used to a warmer temperature.

All these things are attempts at acclimating that don’t accomplish it unless you go train in the heat and do those long runs and long workouts in the heat to acclimate to that.

But I won’t diminish the situation at hand for Logan here, which is training in hotter conditions and racing in much cooler weather. It’s not easy.

For instance, the East Africans – Kenyans, Ethiopians, are far and away the best runners in the world. They dominate the Olympics, World Championships, all the major marathons, and all the world records. They have dominated ever since they started being competitive.

The East Africans obviously train in a hot climate for the most part – Kenya, Ethiopia, and the only time that they’re rendered vulnerable, at least on a greater scale than a couple of individuals, is when they’re racing in colder conditions.

As a good example, a few years ago at the World Cross Country Championships, I believe they were in Poland, it was nasty, cold, and I think there was some snow.

The Kenyan team, which is usually very dominant, didn’t do very well; they got beat. I believe the Americans beat them.

Nothing against us Americans but we usually don’t beat the Kenyans in Cross Country. It shows you that this is not an easy situation either.

The stuff we’re talking about, which is people who train in the cold and run in the heat, run at the hottest time of the day, or run with more clothes on, doesn’t apply quite as much to the situation we are talking about.

You could run at the coolest time of the day if such a thing exists.

If you’re somewhere hot then there isn’t a cool time of the day, the low for you could be 70-80° which means you’re not getting anything cool, but nonetheless you could try running at least at the coolest time of the day, maybe a lower humidity time of the day, if something like that is applicable, to make some attempt [inaudible 04:51]

But in the end, with the other people there, the people who are training in the cold and running in the heat are doing different things but you can’t do that in this situation.

You can’t take off clothes down to a certain point. If you’re wearing your running shorts, you can’t take off much more than that. There’s only so far you can go.

Some of those other situations don’t necessarily apply to this one. Probably the most important thing is preparation, in terms of both gear and fueling.

Let’s talk about cold weather gear. You might need it more than most. If you’re training constantly in the heat or you’re living in heat, you’re not going to be used to anything cold.

My brother, for instance, lives in Miami, Florida. If he comes and visits and is running and it’s 60°, he thinks it’s freezing.

He’ll wear gloves and a hat and it’s ridiculous to me but that’s how it goes. You acclimate to your own conditions. The human body’s very good at that.

But if you are training in heat more often, you might need that cold weather gear much more than most.

If you get to the starting line and most of the people are not wearing gloves and hats and stuff, that doesn’t mean that you don’t need that stuff, because you’re not as acclimated for that type of condition.

So, you might need a little bit more. We’re talking about gloves, hats, moisture working fabrics are still very important as well. Whether it’s heat or cold, you don’t want to be wearing much of cotton or anything like that; it’s not going to work.

You need to make sure you’re prepared, look at the weather conditions as the race gets closer.

The good thing is if it’s 60° maybe 65 even 55°, that’s not going to be that huge of a deal. It’s not going to affect you to the point where it’s even worth talking about.

Of course, it’s different than what you’re used to training at, but some of the cold weather advise doesn’t matter as much until we’re talking about very cool temperatures.

So, 50° or under, especially if you are down to 40-45°, that’s where you’re talking about cold weather, especially somebody coming from a very hot climate. But again, even 60 can make a difference for somebody who’s used to much hotter conditions.

You want to plan your hydration as well. You might not need this quite as often as you do in the heat, but that does not mean that you don’t need it.

This is what I’m referring to when I say I think this is an easier situation, because people who train in cooler temperatures get away with not hydrating as much, and not being as diligent with fueling and hydrating.

Whereas when you’re training in the heat, you’re not going to make it through a run if you’re not focused on your hydration. You’re going to feel like crap, day to day if you’re not hydrating throughout your day.

You’re already used to it. That’s the better situation; you’d rather be in this situation where you have to scale it back in a way and that’s much better than the opposite.

But again, just because it’s cooler, does not mean that you don’t need to hydrate well, both water and electrolytes.

It’s good you mentioned adjusting the pace. Heat adjustments are incredibly important.

Another factor of this, where it’s much nicer to be in this situation, is that you go faster when it’s cool.

If it’s 60° and you’ve been training in 90°, you’re going to run a lot faster, just by default.

Again, going down to 40°, that’s a difference that I still think you’re going to run a lot faster.

The ideal temperature for a marathon is low. You’re still going to run faster, especially when we’re talking about 60, 55°, you’re going to run so much faster just by default, because you’ve been training with a handicap when it comes down to it.

It’s like you’re training with a weighted vest when you’re running in that kind of heat, especially if there’s humidity on top of it. That makes a huge difference.

When you’re training in the heat, you have to adjust your paces.

At Runners Connect, we have something of a formula that we use, but even that is not perfect.

What we do is we have our clients input the temperature, input the dew point, and then we automatically adjust paces.

This is great but you have to go by effort as much as possible. What paces give you the appropriate training effort as it’s intended?

Let’s say you have a tempo run schedule, and you look on your tempo run and see that it’s intended to be maybe 80-85% effort tops.

Not everybody lists these types of workouts in terms of percentage, but that’s roughly where I’d put a tempo, somewhere like 80%. Whereas 100% is all out, running as hard as you can, but 80% maybe 85 towards the end, the last mile or so.

You look at that effort and let’s say you’re prescribed a four-mile tempo at eight-minute mile pace.

Let’s say four-mile tempo, eight-minute mile pace. If it’s 90° with 100% humidity, if you run that pace, it depends on your fitness, but if that type of workout was designed based on normal weather conditions like regular, more of 60-70° weather conditions, you’re not going to be able to run that pace.

Maybe you will, but it’s going to be an all-out effort. It’s going to be way too hard.

You have to say, “Sure. I can do an adjustment.” You can say, “I’m going to add 10-20 seconds a mile just by default, without even thinking about it” add that without hesitation.

Even then, if you get out there and it’s really hot and humid, then even that might not be enough.

You might even need to adjust a little more and cut some things a little short.

I hate to say cut your workout short, cut your run short, but at the same time, if you’re out there killing your body, which you are when you’re in the heat and humidity, especially if you’re not well-hydrated, you’re just killing your body.

You almost don’t want to put it into that much of a hole, recovery-wise, by doing a super hard workout that’s way higher than the effort that’s intended, when you’re in the heat and humidity.

So, adjust your paces, be more conservative than you need to, err on the side of caution and you’re still going to get the training effort.

You’d rather undertrain a little bit, you’d rather under do a workout than overdo it, especially in the heat and humidity.

Last big piece of advice here, don’t go out too fast in the race. The cooler weather will tempt you big time.

If you’re training in 90°, you go out there and it’s 50 or 55°, you’re going to feel so good, the pace is going to feel so easy the first 5K, that you’re probably going to fly out the gate, be sprinting past people and feel great, and say, “Man, this is incredible! What have I been missing with this weather?”

And, unfortunately, you’ll still bonk if you go out too hard. Even if it’s cooler, it doesn’t matter.

At some point, effort is effort, and energy stores are energy stores, and if you go out too hard, you’re going to bonk, so you want to make sure you avoid this and go out with a plan.

Have a plan going in, and going out. We always recommend doing the first 5K slower than your goal marathon pace, a good amount slower, too, and then settling in closer to your marathon pace after that.

What that does is it makes it to where you’re guaranteed not to go out too fast.

You’re going to be holding back, especially when it’s cooler, especially when you’re talking about training in hotter weather and racing in cooler weather, but nonetheless, go out conservatively, and have a good plan going in and don’t bonk.

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Thanks for tuning in, Runners Connect fans and enjoy your run today.