Time to Shine: How to Perform Your Best in Any Weather Conditions on Race Day

Andie [00:00:01]: My number one piece of advice is run for the day that you're given, not for the day that you're hoping for so that that way, whatever happens, you can walk away from that experience knowing that you put forth the best effort you had on that specific day because that's all you can do. You can't change the weather. You can't change things out of your control.

Cory Nagler [00:00:25]: There is literally nothing you can do to control the weather, but that doesn't stop pretty much every runner I know from obsessing about it before race day. Spring races are super unpredictable too, and that's especially true for anyone who's running the Boston Marathon this year and is familiar with weather in previous editions. You might not be able to control the race day weather, but you can actually do a lot to prepare for it. In this podcast with coach Andy, we talk about how much the weather impacts your race performance and strategies to prepare for any weather from cold and windy to hot and humid. As a bonus, we also debate the ideal running weather, because it's actually pretty contentious. It almost doesn't matter, though, because let's be honest, perfect weather is pretty much never gonna happen. There's a saying that goes, fail to prepare and prepare to fail. I think that's especially true when it comes to training for conditions on race day.

Cory Nagler [00:01:15]: So let's get into it and talk about how to perform your best in any race day weather.

Cory Nagler [00:01:28]: Hello, runners, and welcome to the Run to the Top podcast, where our goal

Cory Nagler [00:01:32]: is making you a better runner with each and every episode.

Cory Nagler [00:01:36]: I'm your showrunner, Corey Nagler. And I'm not an elite runner, but together, we'll explore new strategies and topics to take your running to the next level. This podcast is created and produced by the expert team of coaches at runnersconnect.net, where you can find the best running information on the Internet as well as training plans to fit every runner and every budget.

Cory Nagler [00:01:56]: One of my favorite topics to talk about today, but nothing but the weather, warm, cold, crazy. Springtime is here, and we get all kinds of weather. Andy, are you excited for this topic?

Andie [00:02:07]: Yeah. Super excited to chat about it. I've already had a couple experiences this year, and it's also something that, we're always already talking to clients about with upcoming races in the spring being a little bit more challenging when it comes to, you know, ad adversity and and weather. So

Cory Nagler [00:02:24]: yeah. What's some of the crazier weather you've encountered recently? Because I can say up in Toronto here, we've definitely had a long and extended winter.

Andie [00:02:32]: Yeah. In here in, you know, in Chattanooga or in the South, Raleigh even, it's pretty similar weather to Chattanooga. It's this time of year can just be super variable between, you know, is it gonna be hot? Is it gonna be cool? Is it you know, what are we gonna get? So even this last week, it was in the upper eighties, almost 90, hitting record highs in the last week in in March. And I remember even last year, we got married around this time, and I remember it being cool. Like, it was, like, in the I I remember trying to figure out if I needed a jacket, like, for after the wedding. When am I gonna get cold? So, because it was supposed to be maybe in the forties. And so that temper temperature differential and not knowing what to expect this time of year is is I think can be super challenging. More recently, my a race I did mid March in Raleigh was, severe weather was expected.

Andie [00:03:26]: So there was a storm coming up across, from the West, and it, had already caused, you know, tornadoes and damage in different places. And so when I got to Raleigh, it was a little bit more just rain and wind and not not as bad as it had initially been expected, but, it was it made for a challenging day and probably one of the first races I'd done this year in the heat. And so that and and, I mean, I hadn't had a lot of exposure to it in training either. And so if you're not getting that constant repeated, it just feels that much harder. And so that day, it was it I mean, it was there was some some pretty good headwinds at the end of the race. There was, and I just remember feeling like I was trying to go uphill into the wind at points. Yeah. So that made for just some challenging experiences on top of it just being super humid and a little warm and just having to adapt a little bit more.

Andie [00:04:23]: And so those are things that you we can run into. And, but then we can we can also talk about sort of how Boston has been in the last several years. Last year, it was super warm. It was probably the first warm day of the year for most people who are racing, and so that was a challenge. But then in years past, it there was I think, was it 2018 when it just down poured and was freezing and it was miserable for most of the people out there? So there can be such a variety, and I think the spring also brings a unique challenge where we don't have as much time to adapt to the more adverse conditions. Whereas the wintertime, we're, you know, it's we're getting into more ideal temperatures as we go through the year. And so we're we're kinda getting a boost, whereas right now, we're trying to figure out how to how to adapt and how to, adjust racing and training and all that stuff for different types of conditions that we haven't gotten as much exposure to yet.

Cory Nagler [00:05:22]: Yeah. That to me is always one of the hardest parts of spring is not just that the weather is unpredictable, but that you're not used to it. I think when you come to fall time, you can still sometimes get some weird weather. But it's weird that it's so cold that it's going to affect your race unless you really race later in the year. Whereas, you know, if you get a warm day like you did at Boston last year and you haven't had any time to acclimatize, it can really take a lot out of you.

Andie [00:05:47]: Yeah. It's it's like something that you don't realize is is tough when you're when you're approaching this type of stuff going to the fall. You don't you know, 60 in the fall may not feel might feel nice if you've been training in much warmer conditions. Whereas 60 in the spring could be, you know, a pretty good temperature swing from what you'd been training in and racing in. So, it just the the way that you get to that same temperature will feel different based on the time of the year. And and so how well we can actually train and race in that is it can be dependent upon the person, but, is also going to change how we can race in it. So

Cory Nagler [00:06:26]: And I think that's what we'll get into more today because, you know, the the weather, you have no control over it. Is there's no I know a lot of us do. I, myself included, obsess about the weather leading into a race, but there's nothing you can do about what the weather is. What you can do is prepare yourself both mentally and physically for whatever the conditions might be ahead of time in your training.

Andie [00:06:45]: Yeah. And I think that's the most important thing that I've been I mean, I've had I've had experiences where I had a year where I felt like every race that I went into was just warmer. It had bad weather, and I was just I was getting frustrated because I wasn't running fast times, but, you know, I and and it kind of made that year I kept pushing harder and harder to try to run fast times, and that's just not gonna happen in that and if it's warm weather. And so you kinda have to be able to separate yourself from the times that you're running and be a little bit more understanding of, like, how are these conditions going to affect me so that I can add a week run a good race for the conditions and use that for a positive growth mindset instead of allowing it to sort of suck you down with it. So, that year, I mean, I placed third or second or something like that at one of the races I did, but the time was a lot slower than and and I remember just being so upset about the time, not even thinking about how well I raced or, you know, I placed high. You know, that that's a better marker of success on that day than the time. And I just remember thinking, like, way too much into the time. And, I always now think about the example of of Des winning Boston because that day, like, the times were not fast out that day.

Andie [00:08:02]: I mean, it was it was a challenging day to run fast. It was and so it was super impressive to run as fast as she did. But if she had run that same time maybe on a a different day, would she have been happy with that? And would she you know, that I think that's and then you then you think about, well, she won the race, and that's the important factor as you kinda have to have your Des moment of, like, hey. You know, my time might not have been fast, but look where I placed. And that ends up being sort of a little bit better indicator of how well you performed over what the time might have been. So

Cory Nagler [00:08:33]: Yeah. And you hear quotes of her talking after that race. And it's such an elite athlete's mindset where, you know, it's not this approach of complete disappointment that the weather is not what you expected. It it's this mental mindset of, like, I'm gonna go in. I'm gonna compete. And if the weather is crap, so be it. I can run as well in those conditions as anybody else here who's going through the same thing as me. And that that takes a lot of practice.

Andie [00:08:59]: Yeah. It it definitely create you have to have that mindset going into it that, we're we're kind of working something differently in this race. Like, it's gonna be a more competitive race rather than a a tie a race for who can run the fastest time today. Like, what you're not we're not gonna look we're not looking at that as much. We're really looking at, like, who can be the strongest when it's the most adverse. And so that's how you kind of have to look at these experiences as, like, these these are some these are some races that show us who the stronger the strongest athletes are because they can overcome some adversity, within the race, and that's, I think, also something that is good to see. And I think it's it's kind of it's another variable that we can explore.

Cory Nagler [00:09:41]: Yeah. And just before we get to move on from this topic, I think there's probably some runners who will listen to this and go, you know, that that's great for Dez. But at the same time, she's an elite athlete. She's getting a lot of press for this win and, you know, financial reward too. There's a lot of incentive. What do you tell your athletes if they have in their mind that they really wanna go for a certain time and that they don't have those same, you know, financial incentives to place high, how they approach a race when the weather maybe doesn't permit that PPE or PR?

Andie [00:10:12]: What I've been using is thinking about it from, so Runners Connect has a temperature calculator that I I've started using, and I think sometimes it can even be a little bit conservative with their estimations. But it also kinda gives you just a little bit of realization of how the conditions might be affecting your pace. And so I will sometimes use that so that I can kinda see if I type in, even even post race. Like, I'll put in what I raced and what the conditions were and or I'll put in what the conditions were, and I'll sort of figure out what the equivalent pace like, so what did I end up averaging? If I ever ended up averaging, like, six minute pace, what would the equivalent be based on that calculator? Like, what would it be saying that that pace is equal to? And maybe if it's a really warm, hot, crazy day and it's like the difference is five forty pace, like, cool. So I sort of have used that to my advantage to be like, alright. You know, if I run about this pace on on race day with it being the conditions that are gonna be out there, if that's equivalent to about a five forty pace, like, I can kind of think about that. Is that a PR pace? Like, if I could run five forty, would that be a PR pace? And I think that can help us to get a little bit better just recognition and sort of, you know, of how how I think it gives us a better perception of how well we performed when, time is harder for us to actually realize, like, we we're not gonna run as fast when it's hot. And if you really want to run a good race and enjoy it and and feel strong at the end, you have to be okay with that.

Andie [00:11:47]: You have to be able to be prepared ahead of time that we're adapting and that we need to slow these paces down and that the conditions are not gonna warrant going for a PB. And so how can we equate, though, what we need to slow down by so that we can still sort of rationally understand that, like, if it were cooler, I probably could have PB'd. You know? Like, that's what how I sort of have started trying to, you know, push athletes into sort of thinking about it in those terms, and so using that calculator to give them better perspective over what they've done. And I think that's a good way for us to kinda not be almost like a slave to the time that we're running because I it's just like those things that are out of your control. You don't wanna make you don't wanna be so fixated on them that it takes enjoyment out of the sport. Like like, that's what my experience was, and it just made it not fun to race. And at the end of the day, like, if it's not if it's not enjoyable, you're not gonna race well anyway. And so if you're constantly worried about time or, you know, not adjusting for the conditions, you're gonna be having races that are hard, like, super hard, you're positive splitting all the time and stuff like that, and it just becomes it'll just drain you.

Andie [00:13:05]: And if and that's kind of what I've been trying to push athletes away from is, you know, remind yourself while you're out here, and then find the best way to have the best race today, this day, only focus on today, and then, you know, realizing that the times are not always a reflection of your fitness. But we can find ways to see how they reflect our fitness in different ways.

Cory Nagler [00:13:30]: Yeah. I like that. Really taking the day for what it is. I wanna have a little fun here, with the calculator, and I will link it in the show notes as well. But just because you mentioned it and this answer surprised me, I'm gonna use the example of an 80 degree day, and I'm gonna put that as the dew point too. For an eight minute miler across a marathon, what pace do you think it spits out as the equivalent compared to perfect conditions?

Andie [00:13:54]: Wait. So you said 80 degrees, and what was the dew point?

Cory Nagler [00:13:57]: 80.

Andie [00:13:58]: 80? Okay. So that's, like, gonna be a pretty pretty steamy day. And you said eight minute pace. I'm gonna guess that it's probably gonna slow you down by, like, I don't know, thirty seconds a mile.

Cory Nagler [00:14:08]: That was pretty good. It says eight twenty eight, so you were pretty spot on.

Andie [00:14:12]: But Right. Yeah.

Cory Nagler [00:14:14]: I was gonna say, I actually thought it was gonna be even worse than that. And and to me, twenty eight seconds is a lot, but 80 degrees is a ton of heat. I I think that's probably more accurate for a well trained athlete. And if you're like an especially heavy sweater, it could impact you more than that.

Andie [00:14:30]: Oh, yeah. There's definitely a spectrum with that that calculator too. Like, everyone's gonna be a little bit more different when in terms of how they respond to heat and how their bodies adapted to it. So, like, I know that I feel like I've I tend to be, like, run hot. So I like a good, like, 30 degree day, and I know people who don't like 30 that's too cold for them. And then their body, they're constantly trying to warm themselves up. And so there's gonna be a spectrum of where you fall that's best temperature wise, but, you know, so that and if that's if you're someone like me, you may need to give yourself even more of a little bit more buffer than that calculator is indicating. And so it's just kind of knowing yourself on on kind of what efforts and then, you know, taking opportunities where it might be a little bit warmer.

Andie [00:15:14]: And if you're especially if you're not sure what race day will be like, you know, figure out kinda how you feel on easy runs and when you adapt. Or even if you have a workout on this little warmer day and you you're give it go ahead and start slower and see what that temperature differential is for you. Like, what how does that how is the temperature affecting your paces? Is it ten seconds on a day when it's x temperature? Is it ten seconds on a day when the humidity is at this level? Or kind of, like, coming up with some different things for yourself, and that's actually what I've done. I think I had one workout earlier this year where it was, like, a weird 70 degree day, and I ran kind of in too late in the day. And I I ended up it was four by two miles, and I knew it was gonna be warm. And so I said, just start at a pace that feels tempo effort. So I and I've I've practiced a lot to try to really nail down efforts and sort of feel what those feel like, and that's something I've been trying to encourage athletes to do. I think that's it's an acquired skill.

Andie [00:16:17]: It takes practice, and so I always encourage people to practice effort over pace because, essentially, on race day, that's what helps us to to get in the right pace zone and make sure we don't overdo it for different conditions. And so I went out and I just said, okay. What is what is the effort feel like today? And so I I went out at a pace I felt like I could maintain for all this the sets. And so that ended up being, you know, about ten seconds slower than I had planned for the day. And so I kinda that gave me a better estimation of how I should adjust workouts for different temperatures. And so that was what helped me the most was that. And then also having played around with that calculator to kinda see what it recommends and then, translating that onto my own onto myself and and seeing how how I how I, sort of a perform in relation to it. So yeah.

Cory Nagler [00:17:05]: Yeah. I think that's the way I think about it too is it gives you a good baseline or average for the population. But the same way, you know, when you put in a calculator for how many carbs you need, everybody's a little bit different. I think it's the same thing where it's a good starting point, but you can kinda figure out what works for yourself.

Andie [00:17:22]: Yeah. And I'd always rather have people start too slow. So if that spits out twenty eight seconds and you wanna go ahead and start thirty five or forty seconds slower, that's gonna be better overall for you than to force it right at twenty eight seconds and then find out that, oh, you needed a little bit more time. Like, maybe your your buffer needs to be thirty five five seconds, because the hardest the worst thing you can do in a race that's warm is go out too hard. There's just a lot of different things that start to get I mean, we know that when it's warm, your heart rate increases. Your heart rate's increasing, that means you're gonna be burning more glycogen because where your heart rate is also determining when you switch from fat burning to carb burning. So we see that happening and then we see our you're getting dehydrated faster. We're we're gonna be reaching that lactate threshold point sooner.

Andie [00:18:11]: And so if you're starting too quick in the heat, we're you're gonna have a much harder race day. And so that's where it's like we're better on better staying on the side of caution and starting too slow and then adapting later because that's gonna help us get the best out of ourselves on the day. We're not gonna burn through resources quite as quickly, and and that's gonna be, more optimal.

Cory Nagler [00:18:36]: Yeah. You can always speed up if you feel good in the second half. Once you've burned all your matches, It's it's really tough to come back from that.

Andie [00:18:44]: Yeah. And in hot races, when you're when it just is I there's I feel like it's just there's nothing like just being in a hot race, having gone out too hard. You're just out there on that blacktop. The sun's speeding down on you, and you're just it's demoralizing. I can just I can just picture it right now, the the frustration of that. So

Cory Nagler [00:19:07]: Yeah. I wanna come back to one thing you said, which is you actually like it if it's a 30 degree day. Because even living in a pretty cold climate over the winter, it's definitely cold for me. By 30 degrees, once it starts dipping below the hat, I'm thinking about putting on tights for the race. I think 38, 40 is kind of closer to my ideal. But would you say 30 if you could pick any weather in the world? Is that what you would pick?

Andie [00:19:30]: I mean, that's what my PRs have been in, just about right around 30. So I, I mean, I would be probably 30 to 40 is probably fine for me, but, I think I even qualify when I qualified for the trials in 2016, it might have been 20 something that day in Indianapolis, and I was in shorts. And I think I had on the, singlet and arm sleeves and then, just like a head, an ear warmer. And I might not even I don't know if I was wearing gloves. That was back before, I I and I was newly post collegiate. And I don't think I had gloves, so I might have been still wearing socks on my hands when I was running, because that was what I did for a few years postcollegiate. I wore socks on my hands instead of buying gloves because I was being cheap. And so I don't even know if I was wearing gloves in that race.

Andie [00:20:26]: I think I might have just had my hands tucked into my, arm sleeves. So but that was I don't remember I remember not being cold when I was racing. Like, I didn't really feel it. But when I went out after the race, I was gonna go spectate the marathon. I walked out, and I was like, oh, I can't do this. I can't. I don't was it this cold when I was racing? I don't remember that. But, yeah, I would definitely prefer the cooler the better.

Andie [00:20:52]: I just I I feel like I just end up, sweating sooner than most people maybe, or, I think it burned through more salt. I I think I'm a pretty salty sweater, so it's hard for me to keep, salt stores up when it's warmer and even remotely warmer.

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Cory Nagler [00:24:07]: And I I think when people think of throwaway layers, they think, you know, maybe just a jacket or or just sweatpants. I'm thinking everything. Like, you can throw away just about everything on the start line from hats to jackets to sweatpants to a second pair of socks and even gloves. Like, sometimes if it's really cold, I like to have two pairs of gloves before I get going. Or it's nice to have, like, one of those, like, dollar store gloves that you don't feel so bad if you toss them away during the run. It it just allows you to adapt and go based on how you feel as opposed to worrying that you brought the right amount of layers.

Andie [00:24:40]: Right. And that's also one of those things that I mean, I did a race over the I think it was on Thanksgiving here, and it's 28 degrees. And I always do a good warm up, and I wear several layers so that when I do end up taking off the clothes that I'm not gonna wear to race in, it's real close to the start of the race. And that way I'm able to keep my body temperature up because that's one of those things that you're the longer that you're standing there cold and if you start shivering, you're actually using energy to try to keep your body warm. And so the longer that you're in that state, the more energy you're wasting, the more the more, you know, that you're losing actually time on your on your race. Your lactate threshold is lower when you're cold, so you hit that sooner. We have our muscle contractions are slower. All that stuff gets impacted if we aren't properly warmed up.

Andie [00:25:28]: And so a lot of these bigger marathons where you have to see in the corral at least, what, thirty, twenty, I don't even know, when you have to line up in the corral pretty early and you don't have the ability to kinda do a little dynamic warm up or do a couple minute shakeout or something like that, then those extra layers are super important to making sure that we stay warm and that we aren't using any energy to try to keep ourselves warm. I think we also do end up burning through more glycogen too if we're cold. And so we wanna be very careful that we're not allowing ourselves to reach those those freezing cold points, before the race. And that specific race, there was a guy, I saw him out there even thirty minutes before the race just wearing shorts, and he wasn't even wearing a shirt. It was 28 degrees. He had a a face mask thing come up over his face. But for the most part, you know, he wasn't wearing enough clothes to really keep him warm and any, and, and so that was interesting to me because that's not the most effective strategy for racing. It's just not, there's like, you could, we have a variety of issues that can go wrong.

Andie [00:26:34]: You could pull a muscle from getting, being too tight from being cold and, your muscles not being prepared to contract as fast as we need when we race. And, and yeah. So it's, that's, yeah, when we talked, we've been talking about heat a lot, but in the cold, we also do want to be prepared, layers wise to make sure that we're not leaving time on the table, from being cold.

Cory Nagler [00:26:56]: Yeah. And I will add a our runginess kinda calculator actually tried as well putting it down to, like, zero degrees, and I don't think it adjust the time. But it you know, if you have to throw on extra layers and stuff or and your fingers are freezing, that that is definitely gonna affect your time. So definitely make sure you build that in as well.

Andie [00:27:12]: Yeah. I don't think the calculator works in in reverse very well. I I've tried that too with, clients racing because I I you know, I've even tried to figure this out because I I wanted to know, how much does the cold affect because we know that it does. We know that there you're gonna be slower. We're gonna have to adjust a little bit, especially when it's when it's below a certain temperature and it gets really cold. Like, there are things that you have to do to adjust a little bit. But I couldn't find any specific, ways to adjust. I mean, I think I saw somewhere that, like, you might be, like, three to 5% slower in the cold, but, you know, that's hard to really grasp what that how much of a difference that is and how that what pace that means you should go at.

Andie [00:27:55]: And so but I do know that in a lot of ways, as long as you can keep your body warm, we can negate some of that. So, it's just good to know sort of that that there is some impacts in in what we can do.

Cory Nagler [00:28:08]: Yeah. For sure. Before we get into sort of preparing for the weather, I wanna make sure that we touch on a couple other conditions because I think until now, we focused on temperature and humidity. But let's talk about wind because I think that's one that has the potential to really affect your race, especially if you're running something like Boston, which is point to point. There's the possibility that you could have a henwitt in the entire way.

Andie [00:28:29]: Mhmm. Yeah. I was thinking about this because I've had some clients who've been dealing with some windy conditions lately. And even myself, I had a workout I did. This was last week or a couple weeks ago, and, it I did an out and back on and it was I could tell I was feeling like the way out felt relatively easy, and I was like, And then when I flipped around, I was a good, like, 15, twenty seconds fifteen, twenty seconds slower per mile, or per split than I was trying to be. And, when I looked at my data when I finished, like, the power meter on my watch, it was showing you could see it was like a mark like, the the difference was so apparent. Like, how much harder I was working going into the wind despite being fifteen seconds slower on each of my intervals. And so I think that's important to recognize that there's there's the it does have an impact, and it does require you to work harder, and it's kind of like running up hills.

Andie [00:29:29]: If you force yourself to try to keep pace running into the wind, it'd be like running super hard up a hill and then being exhausted for what comes next. And so we have to sort of find ways to adapt, but the good thing about wind is if you can find yourself a group to run-in, that's gonna help us to, you know, prevent some of that. There's and the other important thing that I've read before is that the the, difference between so the headwind has a more impact on us on our times than a tailwind helps us. So even if your race even if you're, like, banking, you're doing a race that's out and back and you're banking on, you know, this tailwind, once you turn around, it's gonna be so much easier. It's gonna be so much better. Like, yeah, you're gonna be faster, but it it's important to recognize that you're running into the headwind the first half. That's gonna slow you down more than it's gonna help you coming back. And so factoring that into your time a little bit that we might need to go a bit a good bit slower into it, and expect to not have quite as much of a boost coming back.

Andie [00:30:34]: So that's something to also consider. But if you can run-in a group, especially in a place like Boston where there are tons of people, try to work with people, alternate who's leading, alternate who's taking, the force there. And even if you're in a group, it does help to sorta even if you're not in the front, does sorta help to, you know, help displace that a little bit. But you can actually get a good amount of of help from not, like, sitting behind and coasting a little bit and not taking that force on directly. There's a there's a definite, like, a market increase that you can get in your pace just from being able to sort of tuck in behind some people and let some other people take the wind for you. Of course, I would I would try to to kinda work with the other people in that group. So, occasionally, you might have to take the wind, and, and that means you might have to use a little bit more energy during those periods. But then if you can tuck back in and just alternate out, it'll help you a good bit to conserve, when you have the opportunity to kinda tuck back in behind people.

Andie [00:31:33]: So avoiding if it's a windy day, trying to avoid as much as possible running alone. This might mean that you might have to throw some surges in. So if you're with a pack and you're like, I think I I think I can go a little quicker, see where the next group of people is, surge up to them and then tuck in so that you can minimize the amount of time that you're running alone into the wind. So that can really help us, just to kind of work through it. And that might mean you have to be kind of adjusting the the the goals for the day a little bit. But the wind does have a pretty profound impact on, and it's gonna make you have to work a lot harder. And so we're you're gonna have to sort of approach it as just, like, get that effort right. Try not to work too hard into it if you're alone.

Andie [00:32:21]: Adjust. Just kind of see, like, okay, what what feels like the same effort? What what feels sustainable for me to keep going at into this wind? The hardest part about wind is that it's so hard for us to actually quantify how much of a difference it's gonna make, and this is where that effort training really comes into play is knowing exactly how much it affects your pace, for different is it 10 miles per hour? Is it 20 miles per hour? Is it just the occasional gust? And so that and there's no there's no way to know for for a constant what that's gonna be like. And so you might have to just be able to, you know, find ways to just adjust on the fly, relax your pace when you're going into it, and maybe ignore your pace a little bit when you're going into it just to keep us from, you know, imploding later because we were working way too hard against a wind that we had no control over.

Cory Nagler [00:33:15]: Yeah. I think there's a lot of parallels there between wind and hills. For one, you know, the same way you can have different speeds, you know, different inclined of hill is gonna affect you in different ways. But David P says, you touched on the fact that a tailwind is gonna help you, but not as much as a headwind hurts you. And I think it's the same thing with uphills and downhills. I'm looking right now. We actually do have an article on Runner's Connect that I'll link about how much wind affects your time. And the example they give here is if you have a headwind of 10 miles per hour and you're running six minute mile pace, and we're assuming that this is a perfect headwind going the exact opposite direction as you, it's gonna slow you down about twelve seconds a mile.

Cory Nagler [00:33:57]: And then if you have a tailwind going at that same pace, it's gonna speed you up six seconds a mile. So obviously, those numbers can vary. But that that feels about right, whether it's a hill or a wind that, you know, when it benefits you, it's it's about half as much as it's gonna hurt you the other way.

Andie [00:34:13]: Yeah. And I think that article also mentions that the speed at which you're running into a headwind also changes how much it affects you. So the faster you're going into a headwind, the more that it's gonna, you know, slow you down. Whereas if you're going slower into a headwind, you're not gonna be as quite as impacted by it, which makes sense if you've ever done an easy run versus trying to do a workout into the same those same conditions that you you feel you can probably keep your pace a little bit easier on your easy runs into the wind, whereas you may not be able to as much on on a speed day.

Cory Nagler [00:34:45]: Yeah. It's like a double whammy. If you try to maintain your pace in the wind, not only is it gonna feel like you're sprinting, you also have additional drag from the wind too.

Andie [00:34:54]: Yeah. Exactly. And it's funny. I always think about doing track workouts back in college on the track when on a windy day. You know, you half your lap, you're just, like, bearing into this wind and trying to figure out a way to get through it. And then the other half, you're just kind of and so I I remember when I would do workouts, I'd be, like, checking splits, and they would just make no sense ever. You just look down. You're like, well, I'm too fast, but I guess that's okay because I'm about to run into the wind, pretty hard.

Andie [00:35:20]: And so you'd just be negative splitting or positive splitting like crazy through intervals, and that's okay. Like, that's that's gonna be sort of something you're just gonna have to be okay with is the pace being a little bit more variable in different sections when the wind's blowing harder than others and, knowing whether or not it's a are they are is it gusts that we're dealing with that day that will be challenging? Are you gonna have a constant wind throughout? So

Cory Nagler [00:35:46]: Yeah. I think I've had days on the track, back when I was in high school where, you know, if you have gusts up to, like, 40 miles an hour, I might be running, you know, seventy, eighty seconds glitz on the track, and literally half that time will be the very last hundred meters just just because you're slowed down so much by the wind and then getting the benefit on the other end.

Andie [00:36:05]: Yeah. I I I have, like, visualizations of me right now, like, running into the wind and just leaning into it and just trying to fight through it. And, I mean, when you're just doing a single interval, that might be fine. But on a race day, if you're constantly just digging into it, it can be really hard. And I the the race that I did recently that had some wind, it was mostly, like, towards the end that I noticed it. And it so it was a lot of the sections when we were when I was, like, last five k. And so if it's at that point, whatever it takes to get through it, just push push your body with whatever you got. But if you're hitting these wins pretty early in a race, that's where you're really gonna wanna make sure you're not overdoing it.

Andie [00:36:51]: Late in a race, just bury your head and just go. Just push just push. Do what you gotta do. Work through each kind of gust that comes at you because it was gusts that I was dealing with where it would be fine one minute, and the next minute, it felt like you were running into a wall. And, yeah, nothing you can do about it, but work through them in those moments. And so that was what I sorta did. And at times, I felt like I was not picking my feet up. I was like, I am not moving forward, and that's okay because I did.

Andie [00:37:18]: I finished. It was fine. It was challenging. But if you hit those at the end of the race, just, you know, do whatever it takes to just push through them. That's like finishing up hills and stuff. You just kinda have to bear down and and go for it.

Cory Nagler [00:37:32]: Yeah. Alright. Just before we get into how to actually prepare for these weather conditions, there's one more I wanna touch on, which is rain. And I think it's a funny one because a little bit of rain won't necessarily impact you the same way a little bit of wind will. But when it's boring, it really sucks and it tests you physically and mentally. I just ran a 30 ks about a week ago where it was pouring the whole time, and let me tell you that it's not easy.

Andie [00:37:57]: No. It that it's definitely a lot harder. I think we don't realize that it's gonna be harder, but it does it does add a layer of challenge. And you probably are gonna be a little bit slower from it. So just be you're just kinda something you need to prepare yourself to as with for as well. I'd say too the I remember having this conversation a couple years ago before Boston, and I was like, you know, I don't think I've ever really run-in a race that's been raining the entire time. And then I ran, like, literally the next weekend, I ran a race and it rained the entire time. And I was like, karma.

Andie [00:38:27]: Cool. Yeah. That was Boston, I think, two years ago that was a little bit rainy, and so it can make you cold. And so that's one factor you wanna keep in mind is, the temperature and the rain. What is how is that gonna compound and what do you need to do to make sure you're not then freezing on the course? Because that's the hardest is, like, you know, if it's snowing, it's one thing, but when it's raining, it's just soaking you, and then you're just cold running in the cold while being wet, and that's just miserable. And you will body temperature will drop. It'll be hard to keep keep your temperature up and all that stuff, which will affect your performance. And so we wanna be mindful of that.

Andie [00:39:05]: Also, it's gonna make the shoes feel heavy. You wanna be careful with what types of shoes you're wearing because they'll be slicker. You know, some shoes, you gotta look at those soles and see if they're how they well, they perform on the roads when they're slicker, when they're wet. So it's good to to recognize how your shoes perform in that type of stuff. And if it's smarter for you not to wear a super shoe in those conditions, if the super shoes feel like they're a little bit slicker, you don't have as good attraction and or control over your feet. So that might be something to consider. The other thing is, and, I remember one of my friends, we both had the same coach, and we were talking about this. And she was saying how she was gonna run the treadmill because it was raining, and our coach was like, it could be raining on race day.

Andie [00:39:49]: Why are you why are you avoiding the rain? And and then we were laughing about it because then now I think about that every time when it's raining outside, and I'm like, I you know, I it could be raining on race day. So that's important to recognize that, you know, rain's not gonna hurt you. If it's not severe storms, you probably should do some training in the rain every once in a while just to make sure that you're you know how it's gonna affect you on race day. You know how you're gonna perform in it, because it very well could be raining on race day. And what is that gonna do to you? And are you gonna be mentally prepared to deal with it on race day if it's raining? So not being afraid that you're running the rain, I think, is important that we do that every once in a while. We don't have to do it every time. Don't test your willpower so much that you end up hating running by the time you get to your race. But, you know, kind of put yourself in some some adverse conditions every once in a while, not unsafe conditions, just adverse, the ones that are less optimal for running, just so that we have those experiences to go off of.

Andie [00:40:54]: One thing I will say though is if it's a warm day and it starts to rain, that's great. Like, take it in. It's gonna help us keep a little bit cooler at the very least. Soak in that rain a little bit, kind of enjoy it, I would say. But just just have sort of a plan of action for that. Like, if it's gonna be super rainy, like, do you need to figure out how to keep yourself dry for as long as you can before the race starts? Those are things to consider. People put I know people have used, like, trash bags and things like that. Yeah.

Andie [00:41:26]: We talked about also, like, how do you keep your feet dry so you're not blistering and stuff like that in your shoes. So those are things to consider. You know, all this stuff becomes a little bit more important for preparation, I'd say, when you're having a rainy race day is so much more crucial because there's a lot more things to consider, to make sure you feel good. So

Cory Nagler [00:41:49]: And I think anti chief is a must if it's raining.

Andie [00:41:52]: Oh, yes. Oh, for sure. Definitely need the anti chafe.

Cory Nagler [00:41:57]: Yeah. The, the idea of going out and running in the rain intentionally, it brings up an interesting training philosophy. Because I think there's one camp where there's an argument that you should make training as enjoyable as possible to make it as sustainable as possible and help you get in more training. And then there's another camp where it should kinda be as tough as possible because you wanna mimic race day and you wanna sort of callous yourself to get used to it. And personally, I kinda fall in the middle where I like to make my easy runs as comfortable and cushy as possible and then workout day, whatever the weather, like, I'm getting out. I'm not moving that around. But, I interviewed, I think a a month or two ago, Matt Fitzgerald. And in his book, he he talks about what he called the the pebble effect.

Cory Nagler [00:42:40]: And it was one pro runner who he spoke to. I can't remember, but he talked about how they would never take pebbles out of their shoe. And the argument was kind of training yourself to just get used to whatever goes wrong on race day. And I thought that was a really interesting thing to talk about.

Andie [00:42:55]: Yeah. That's that's I also would fall in more in the middle. I think it's important to have experiences on both ends, but also ensure that you're still enjoying what you're doing. I don't think it needs to be that every single day is just unenjoyable and and awful, and you're just killing yourself all the time unless you enjoy that. I mean, that's also fine. But, I mean, I think, like, there has to be some balance there, and I always think about what Alexi Pappas said. I heard her talk about this, I feel like, in an interview I saw, where she talks about the rule of thirds, and she says that, you know, a third of your runs are gonna be, awful and not great, a third of your runs will be just okay, and then a third of your runs will be great. And so just having that sort of perspective about training is is, I think, good for balance.

Andie [00:43:46]: And then she also talked about willpower and how we have things that draw on our willpower, and we have things that fill our willpower up. And so if we are constantly draining our willpower, it affects every area of our life if you're just your willpower to do things is completely empty. And so having that balance with yourself of, making sure you do have enough things that that do fill your willpower back up. And that might be that those easy runs being in good, you know, enjoying them and making sure they're in good conditions is part of that and making and then workout days, it is what it is. Whatever that is for you that makes it work well that you still are consistent with training, I think that's the important part because, you know, with especially with a lot of runners, consistency can be a a challenge through winter, especially your hot summers. Staying consistent is really tough. And so if we have to do some things to make that a little bit more enjoyable, then the consistency is the most important factor for continued growth and performance. So whatever that means to you balance wise, you know, not doing every run-in the terrible conditions and finding ways to get, make them more enjoyable or a little bit more manageable is fine.

Andie [00:45:03]: It's that's kind of what we have to do to stay motivated and keep enjoying what we're doing and and keep consistent.

Cory Nagler [00:45:10]: Yeah. And I think from a mental preparation standpoint, people assume it it has to be doing exactly what it's gonna be on race day. But I don't know if that's necessarily the case. I think even visualization can help. And I think training in tough conditions, whatever they are, is gonna prepare you know, if your race is you're expecting it to be eighty, ninety degrees, maybe do some of your runs in in warm weather. Don't do all of them in 40 degrees. But, you know, running when it's pouring rain is is still gonna build up a type of mental toughness that you need on race day.

Andie Cozzarelli [00:45:40]: Yeah. And that's where I think that variety comes into play is being able to recognize that a variety of different experiences help you prepare in different ways. Being uncomfortable when it's super cold or or warm is beneficial. Being uncomfortable when it's raining is beneficial for just for us to have a little bit of, of a an ability to know what to expect if we end up with those conditions on race day, but that doesn't mean by any stretch of the imagination that you can't, enjoy your runs that are on perfect weather days even in preparation for a race. I will say, though, from, like, a if your race is going to be warm from a heat acclimation standpoint, there does need to be some amount of prep work if the if you're you know, we don't know a lot of those variables until we get close enough to race day what weather is gonna be like, and it can change so rapidly, that we we actually I tend to be like, don't look at the race day weather until it gets a little closer, but be prepared for if you look at it and you're like, oh, there could be a storm, just know that so you can pack properly. And then if it is gonna be warm, just sort of keeping an eye on it to know exactly what it's gonna be like and and doing the things that you might need to do to prep for that so we can acclimate as much as possible. And I remember having a coach that told me to, you know, especially leading into the race during the taper, doing some easy runs, like, on the treadmill. If it was gonna be cooler out and I was gonna go race in a warmer space, doing some easy runs on the treadmill and, wearing, say, like, a long sleeve, in in that wearing wearing more layers so so that I was sort of building up some it's a little bit more heat so that we're sort of a little bit adapting.

Andie [00:47:20]: It's not gonna be perfect to especially if it's gonna be humid because it's hard that's a lot harder to replicate. You can do some time sitting in the sauna can help us to get some adaption to, humidity and heat. Even if you're not necessarily running in it, it still helps with that adaption because really what we're trying to do is to get our body better at, you know, all the things that help to cool us, though and it takes, what, a period of, like, seven to fourteen days for us to fully adapt. And, the adaptions that we need to take place are all the things that help our bodies to cool ourselves, and so that takes it takes time for your body to relearn those processes. So that that's why we talk about when it's the first warm day, if that's what your race day is and you haven't done any training or any acclimation to that, your body's not gonna be as optimal at, you know, you're gonna be slower to to start sweating, which means that you're gonna be slower to start cooling your internal temperature, which means that you're also at increased increased risk for heat illness. And so there's a lot of things that we wanna make sure that we start to chip away at in in small ways. I don't want you to do crazy things in the two weeks leading up to race day. You shouldn't be, completely crushing yourself.

Andie [00:48:35]: Just doing, you know, some starting with some easy runs, taking them really easy if you're in the taper, and then you're doing a couple days in the sauna. Nothing crazy. We don't want these to be things that end up exhausting you. Doing your workouts may be in a little bit warmer conditions and backing off your paces just to kinda get yourself ready, keeping the effort steady and not overdoing it. It can just help us to be better prepared for warm conditions. So

Cory Nagler [00:49:06]: Yeah. And I I think for runners who are deciding between, like, running outside versus the treadmill, my view has always been that the treadmill will get you fit. Like, it is a running motion. But I find that one of the biggest drawbacks is that weather adaptation piece. You don't get used to the wind or the rain or the hills. I mean, granted, you can do a little incline on the treadmill, but it's still not quite the same thing. It's the, you know, the real deal.

Andie [00:49:33]: Yeah. That's gonna be the biggest challenge. But, you know, the way that I see it is, especially with the training adaption piece, like, if you're doing if you're using the treadmill to help us acclimate to the heat within two weeks of the race, you've probably done all the adaptions that we really need, and your body is prepared in a lot of ways. And you're probably gonna do your pre race and your last couple of runs outdoors in the conditions and the elements before race day, so that that part will be taken care of a little bit. And so, yeah, I think it's important that you don't overdo that. It's good to still get outside and and expose yourself to elements. But, and I think that's also where, you know, doing some of your runs that pop up on your schedule, they don't have to be just in the taper that you take advantage of these opportunities. Like, if it's raining and your race is still, like, two months away, like, maybe I'll do this run-in the rain just to have the experience in it.

Andie [00:50:24]: And I I did I did that with the run. It was a few months ago. It was like a cold rain. I had 11 miles, and I was like, but let's just do it. Let's just I did my 11 miles, and then I had a double, and I did my second run on the treadmill. Like, that was how I sort of balanced that. And I you know, by the end of it, I was like, that was not fun. That 11 mile run was not fun.

Andie [00:50:47]: But I also was kind of like, cool. I just did that. That wasn't fun, but it was, like, now I'm feel yeah. I felt more accomplished at the end of it. So there's that.

Cory Nagler [00:50:59]: I wanna get your thoughts on one training paradox because in terms of adaptation and even mental training, we've talked all about specificity and prepare yourself for the heat or the cold. One thing that boggles my mind, even though scientifically there is a lot of backing for it, is the idea that a lot of elite athletes will go and train at altitude for races at sea level. That's, like, the one example I can think of where high level runners will specifically seek out a climate very different from where they'll be racing. So what do you think are the benefits of that and and why do athletes do it that way?

Andie [00:51:31]: Yeah. It's mostly just, I think, from the, like, blood plasma perspective of, like, how your body changes in relation to being you know, it's harder to train the altitude. Your recovery is slower. And so when you come down from altitude, there's I think it's something to do with, like, you have this increase in blood plasma, so you are, in a better position to be able to perform faster at sea level. And then you don't have the negative side effects of of being at altitude, which is a little bit slower pace, slower recovery. So when you come down, then you're you're you're just in a prime more more prime and optimal space to to race fast. The thing that I find is that a lot of times training at altitude also comes with less humidity. There's definitely places you can go train where it's high altitude and high humidity, but I think a lot of the prime sort of areas in The US that people go tend to also not carry as much humidity.

Andie [00:52:28]: And so from that perspective, I find, especially if you're gonna be in a race that's warm, the the altitude training has a similar effect that heat training has on you, but the altitude training is not gonna be quite as uncomfortable as training in humidity. So I think that's something because they they've said that, you know, heat training is the poor man's altitude. So training in a hot humid climate can have similar effects. And, actually, from what the research has shown that that the it can have actually, like, a longer term effect. It's a slightly different mechanism that gets you there, but it's very similar in the effects that you get from it. And so the I think though the benefit of, training in a hot humid climate and getting similar benefits is that you're you're training through more uncomfortability more often. And so that also helps us from it helps us if if it's, humid on race day, and it also helps us if it's cool on race day. We're gonna be more we're gonna be more optimally prepared for running fast in cooler weather if it ends up being cooler even if we've been training in the heat.

Andie [00:53:32]: So I think that that's something to consider, and that's I know a lot of people will race grandma's marathon here, and that race isn't till, what, like, mid June in The US. So it's one of the faster marathons. And you can you can end up with a warm day for sure. I've been there when it's been warm. But if it's remotely cooler, that time of the year, if you're from most a lot of other areas of the country, you're probably training your last few big weeks in a much more harsh conditions. It's probably a lot more humid, a lot hotter, So you're probably getting and but then when you go down to that race and it's cooler, it's beneficial to us. So I think very similarly to how, a like, training at altitude can help us at sea level, so so can training in the heat humidity and then getting a cooler weather race day can help us be, you know, be able to run faster. And so I think it's a similar mechanism there that we see.

Andie [00:54:27]: And so, yeah, I think that there's still, like, some amount of adaption they say that you need to sort of be prepared for if if you're coming down from altitude, all that kind of stuff. So yeah.

Cory Nagler [00:54:39]: So if if you live in the Northeast and you're near sea level and you don't have warm weather during the wintertime, you're just out of luck?

Andie [00:54:46]: Yeah. Yeah. No. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's, that's got it's got a little bit more of a challenge. You don't have quite as much stimulus for for adversity, but, hey, you get you do have to train through some pretty brutal winters, I imagine.

Cory Nagler [00:55:01]: Yeah. There's a lot

Cory Nagler [00:55:02]: of adversity. You just might not get extra blood plasma from it. The winters are no joke.

Andie [00:55:07]: Yeah. For sure. There's just you little bit of that loss. Just do a training camp down in Florida. You'll be fine.

Cory Nagler [00:55:13]: Yeah. Exactly. Okay. Let's get into how you actually dress for different race conditions. I think, to me, perfect race day conditions, those are straightforward. I think everyone has a routine. You know, it's it's usually either, like, splits or tights and then singlet for men, and then maybe you have your your sports bra and and, you know, similar bottoms for women. But then let's say we'll start on the cool then.

Cory Nagler [00:55:36]: If it dips below 30, what are you putting on for race day?

Andie [00:55:40]: Me, personally, I'm probably gonna wear, maybe, like, a little ear warmer. I probably will wear gloves if it's 30. Probably wear gloves. I don't know, though. I've liked arm sleeves in the past just because I can pull them down if I feel like I'm getting warm. So that's always something I'll bring with me, and I'll kinda decide that on race day. That's still 30. I'd still probably wear a crop or a tank top, and then shorts, and then, otherwise, just socks and my shoes.

Andie [00:56:17]: So, nothing too crazy on on for me. I think that might vary by person. Some people may feel more comfortable wearing something like a half tite. The other important thing that I think is good to consider here and I don't know about you, but I tend to feel like if my upper body is warm, I'm good. If my and there's but I know that there are people who are the opposite where if their warm legs are warm, they're good. They don't need to have as much layered layers up top. And so that's something to know about yourself is what what part what where do you need to cover to make sure your body stays warm? So, some people may prefer wearing a hat. The problem I have with hats, like a like a winter hat, is that they tend to slide up and then my ears aren't covered, so I don't that that just gets annoying.

Andie [00:57:01]: So I want something that's gonna stay over my ears because that's really what I'm trying to keep warm. So that's something to consider. I know some people like to wear, like, a calf sleeves or or something like that Yeah. Just to keep their legs, lower legs warm. So that's an option. And and, yeah, I mean, you can always, again, wear that extra layer to start and then peel it off and and toss it, if you're feeling like you're getting a little bit warm. But, don't avoid overdressing because or, like, be prepared from a layering perspective when you intend to take things off if you're not gonna wear them anymore. Because if you start sweating underneath those layers, then when you take them off, you might get cold from overdo overheating a little bit.

Andie [00:57:48]: So then the sweat sort of is trying to dry in your skin. So just sort of have a a plan for this, and this is actually something you can test in training, with you know, prepare in different temperatures. Like, if it's gonna be 30, what what do you feel best doing workouts in? Because that's gonna help you to decide how how you'll feel on race day in different outfits and stuff. So Yeah.

Cory Nagler [00:58:09]: I think I think throwaways are good. Test them for sure. The other thing I was gonna add, you talked about, like, sleeves or tights, to partially cover up your body. I think similarly with the hat, like, if it's kind of that in between where it's a little cold to not wear anything, but you don't want a full winter hat, I see a lot of runners who either do, like, a headband or I've also seen I think it's really popular with, like, collegiate cross country runners when they have, like, they're kinda like earmuffs. Do you know what they're called?

Andie [00:58:36]: I don't. I've always had I've always used the one that's, like, essentially, like, a headband that goes, like, here and around my Okay. Yeah. Behind. But I haven't ever used, like, earmuffs particularly.

Cory Nagler [00:58:49]: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. No. I definitely see runners. I I don't know if they're, like, sport specific or just regular earmuffs, but, yeah, just to, like, cover up your ears without having something over your head that's gonna make you sweat.

Andie [00:58:59]: Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point.

Cory Nagler [00:59:02]: Alright. So let's go on the other end. So let's say it gets warm. You're probably not gonna change your race outfit, at, like, fifty, sixty degrees. If it gets up to, like, eighty, ninety, are you doing anything different, or do you stick to your normal race outfit?

Andie [00:59:21]: So one thing that I had a, a coach tell me to do when I was first racing in the Olympic trials in 2016 when it was supposed to be pretty hot in LA, he said to get a white, like, a white hat specifically. You don't want a dark hat because that's going to attract the sun more. It's gonna cause a little bit more heating. So a light colored hat can be beneficial from a like, kinda helping your helping you to not sweat so much get so much sweat in your eyes because a lot of times, it's gonna have a little bit of help from the, the band of the hat where if especially if it's a sports one, it's gonna sort of absorb a little bit of that sweat, so you're getting less of it in the eyes. But it also keeps the helps keep your head a little cooler. Another thing that I find is because it's like a material and it's like a fabric, pouring water over your head, which is a really, really good thing to do when it's hot because that's gonna really help us to keep our body temperature down, The water will absorb the hat will absorb some of that. So it'll actually stay a little bit wetter for longer than your hair might. And especially if you have dark colored hair like me, like, this is just gonna attract the sun more.

Andie [01:00:22]: So the hat actually helps to kind of counteract some of that and helps to can help you to stay a little bit cooler in in warmer weather, and it's especially helpful if it's sunny. So we didn't really talk too much about sunny weather, but that was something that last year's Boston was warm, and it was also sunny. And when you think about when when you're seeing the temperature, the if it says sixty, seventy out, just temperature wise outside, when you're out there on that blacktop and it's sunny out, you the that the temperature's gonna feel warmer than that down on the street. So that's gonna add an an extra layer of heat. And then also you think about all the people around you, so it's gonna feel a lot warmer than what the temperature might be showing if it's a sunny day. And so that's where that hat can be a valuable add. I don't know. Some people might like sweatbands just to kinda help prevent some of the sweat from jot going down to their eyes, which is definitely a factor because it can be blinding a little bit when you get that little bit of sweat in your eyes and it stings.

Andie [01:01:26]: So that's not super fun. But, you know, other things to consider are, I know that I've seen people wear buffs because those can also be good ways to keep you can pour water on them and then pull them up over your face, so that can be helpful, just for keeping keeping you cool a little bit, and you can always keep those wet, which will help to keep the back of your neck cool. So there's options on on things like that. But for the most part, right, you're probably gonna be wearing wanna be wearing shorts, wanna be wearing a tank top, not wanting to be overdressed, and and wearing one you're probably gonna be wanting to wear lighter colors, especially with the with the jersey. So yeah.

Cory Nagler [01:02:07]: Yeah. Where do you stand on, assuming it's a light color, something like arm sleeves or longer socks that are gonna cover part of your body?

Andie [01:02:15]: Oh, like, arm like, arm sleeves when it's warmer?

Cory Nagler [01:02:18]: Yeah.

Andie [01:02:20]: I would do it.

Cory Nagler [01:02:21]: Would or wouldn't?

Andie [01:02:23]: I would not. That would that would crush me, I think. I no. I've always when it's been warm, I've always been, crop top, shorts, or tank top. Nothing. I don't wanna over overdress that. Yeah. But I normally do hat, my whatever shirt I'm wearing, and shorts, and then, not not not trying to add too many layers if I can possibly.

Cory Nagler [01:02:49]: Yeah. I'm mostly the same. I do know a lot of runners, especially trail runners, I think, where they like their longer socks. The the other thing I do even without, though, is I'm not a big fan of racing and sunglasses. I know a lot of people have a hard time running, you know, when it's sunny out without them.

Andie [01:03:05]: Yeah. I like I like sunglasses. I've come to appreciate them a little bit more. I don't like it, though, wearing sunglasses when the sun is in and out, like, because that annoys me so much. Like, going from, like, it being too dark to being light to do so if it's gonna be, like, back and forth, that's where I think the hat can also be beneficial because it actually does give you a little bit of coverage over your eyes so you don't feel like you're squinting. And so I think that can kind of if you're not a big sunglasses person, a hat can help sort of counteract some of the the the reasons that you might wanna wear a sun might wanna wear sunglasses. But if they annoy you while racing, then a hat could help.

Cory Nagler [01:03:45]: Yeah. And the other thing with sunglasses is there's not really throwaway sunglasses the way you can wear, you know, like, you can get, gloves that from the dollar store for $1 If you get, like, a $5 pair of glasses, like, they're gonna be miserable to race in. They're just not good quality.

Andie [01:04:04]: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, the sunglasses I've gotten I've enjoyed racing in are the gutters because they don't bounce, and they're pretty lightweight. And they're also not too expensive, so they don't feel quite as bad if something were to happen to them while running in them. But for sure, you don't wanna just, like, get a cheap pair and then find out that they're the worst thing to run-in and they're uncomfortable on race day.

Cory Nagler [01:04:28]: Yeah. I think the Goodners are affordable. They're probably not, like, quite cheap enough that I would intentionally throw them away in the middle of a race.

Andie [01:04:35]: I did get a free pair of sunglasses from they're they're just like the ones they gave us at races, and I've been wearing them, and they're actually not bad. They're, like, similar fit and style to Goodr. They're probably a little bit lighter weight and cheaper materials, but they stay put pretty well. And I'm like so I've been using them for workouts because I'm like, I don't care that much if anything happens to these as much. So they they came with they came free in my as my part of my swag for my race. So take advantage of those. If you see, like, some free sunglasses at at race expos, grab them, test them out in training, see if you like them, and save them. If you're, like, not sure if you're gonna want sunglasses and then you end up tossing them because those can be those can be good good throwaways if you're not super invested in them.

Cory Nagler [01:05:23]: Definitely. I think I haven't bought a pair of sunglasses in, like, three or four years because I've won three different pairs at races, which it it's a nice it's a nice little thing. You know? I I have a million pairs of shirts and shorts, but you really appreciate the sunglasses in the summertime.

Andie [01:05:38]: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I've I just I had a pair of Goodr's that I didn't treat super well. I don't know how they end up so scratched. If I put them on, I, like, could not see. They were so they were so scratched that it looked like they were smudged, and I was like, I just need to throw these away. These are old. Yeah.

Andie [01:05:55]: And but I have so many other pairs because they're just they're great for wearing, you know, when you need them for races or just out and out doing stuff.

Cory Nagler [01:06:05]: Yeah. Nice. Okay. So I think we've pretty much touched on just about every type of weather at this point. But we're kinda getting into the point now as this comes out, it's mid April, just sneaking up on marathon season for most people. For anyone out there who's kinda checking the weather forecast or maybe will be in the coming weeks as they get close to race day, If it's looking like it's not gonna be ideal, what advice would you have for them?

Andie [01:06:34]: I think the most important thing is to find figure out what your plan will be adjustment wise. Have a plan in place. I think the number one mistake that most runners make is not adjusting to the weather conditions. They just they they know what they trained for. They know where they're what they wanna run, and they don't adjust for weather. And then they they go out there at the pace they train for, and then at some point, start things start to go south, and then it just makes the day much more difficult than needed to be. I think we've talked about this in previous podcasts before, but oftentimes when we go out too fast in races, we blow up and run slower than we would than we were physically capable of. Like, we are trained to be able to run faster.

Andie [01:07:20]: We don't reach our potential on that race day. And so same thing goes with, like, if it's too warm and we go out too fast, we probably could have run faster by starting slower and running slower overall, but we would have run a faster time probably. We probably would have put more in the been able to then see ourselves negative split more realistically for the conditions. And so that's the number one thing is that let's just go ahead and and adjust. Try not to be stubborn and think about, like, this is the goal that I set for myself. I'm gonna do it. You can still reach those goals, like we said, with the using that calculator to your advantage, to to kinda give yourself an equated, you know, if I can run about this pace that I I kind of accomplished what my goal was, cool. Like, that's a good way for us to just recognize that we made the best effort for this day.

Andie [01:08:10]: And so that's my number one piece of advice is run for the day that you're given, not for the day that you're hoping for. So that that way, whatever happens, you can walk away from that experience knowing that you put forth the best effort you had on that specific day because that's all you can do. You can't change the weather. You can't change things out of your control. Same thing goes with, you know, there's days that our bodies just don't show up to race day as well as we would have liked. And how do we how do we approach those days? How do we make the most of them, so we can keep using these experiences for positive growth? And so that's what we kinda have to do in in these experience, but it's also different conditions that we didn't we wouldn't have chosen for ourselves, is is to just be able to recognize that we're taking this opportunity to see what our body can do in these conditions and just excited about, you know, being able to challenge ourselves in that way. It's a different challenge than running a PR, but it's still a worthy, you know, challenge to put yourself up to.

Cory Nagler [01:09:17]: Yeah. And I think we as runners, we like a challenge. We like working hard, but we like choosing that challenge and and the weather not being one of it. So I think it's good if you can see it as an opportunity and just another challenge to go after.

Andie [01:09:28]: Yeah. Don't be stubborn. Don't. That's also the way of the runner. I feel like we're all super stubborn. We want what we want, and we don't like it when we we can't we can't go after what we want. So don't be stubborn.

Cory Nagler [01:09:41]: Yep. There's your takeaway. Don't be stubborn. Alright. This this was awesome, Andy. I'm wishing you excellent weather for all of your races, and I'm sure you'll do great even if it's complete crap weather, because we've gone over everything, all the right things to do.

Andie [01:09:59]: Yeah. We're all we're ready. I feel more ready for my race this weekend just having had this conversation. And, yeah, it'll be it'll be fun and good luck to everyone with races coming up. I hope the weather is in your favor, but if not, I hope this podcast is able to help you adapt and and enjoy the day.

Cory Nagler [01:10:31]: Thanks for listening to the Run to the Top podcast. I'm the showrunner at Runners Connect, where as always, our mission is to help you become a better runner with every episode. You can connect with me on Instagram at Corey underscore Nagler or through Strava by searching Corey Nagler. And please consider connecting with the rest of our team at runnersconnect.net. If you're loving the show, you can help us reach more runners by leaving a rating on Spotify or Apple Podcast. Lastly, if you want bonus content, behind the scenes experiences with guests, and premier access to contests, then consider subscribing to our newsletter by going to runnersconnect.net/podcast. I'll see you on the next show, but until then, happy running, everyone.