Hi there. Coach Alexa here.
It’s OK to Skip Today’s Run
I was going to take a slight detour off my series about walking, just to put something together about the incredibly hot weather today.
Both Coach Kelvin and I have covered things like warm weather training, adaptation and hydration before, so do go and look those up in the app if you want a little bit of a recap.
What I wanted to say today is, do not feel bad if you feel like you really don’t want to go out and do the scheduled sessions for today. That is absolutely fine and allowed.
Running training is not like a house of cards. If you miss one, the whole thing doesn’t collapse. It’s very much a cumulative thing.
So if you’re feeling like it’s too hot, or if you’re not able to get a run done first thing in the morning, and you really don’t like the idea of going out and getting really, really toasty later in the day, then that is absolutely fine.
Always err on the side of caution with this warmer weather.
Why Heat and Humidity Matter
Our body really has to prioritise maintaining our core body temperature. Bad things start happening quite quickly if it’s pushed into a situation where that body temperature can’t be maintained at the level it should be.
When we’re out running, we’re creating a lot of heat from the movement of our muscle cells, like those old-school incandescent light bulbs. The process of turning energy and oxygen into movement creates a lot of heat as a by-product.
When we’re already a little bit warm, and when the temperature’s higher, and particularly, I don’t know about you, but where I am after the storm last night, the humidity is quite high, both of those factors will challenge our body.
The temperature means that we need to work harder to keep ourselves cool with our cooling system. The high humidity level means our cooling system is not working as efficiently.
So you can get yourself into a bit of a tricky situation much more quickly than you think, running in this warmer weather, particularly with the humidity levels.
So, as I say, my permission is not to go out and do anything.
Keep Hydrated Even If You’re Not Running
It’s also worth saying it is useful, even if you’re choosing not to exercise at all, to keep hydrated. Even having some of your sporting electrolytes throughout the day, if you’re going about your business or maybe spending a little bit of time outside walking for work or practical reasons.
Always having water on you, and having some of those electrolytes from your sports cupboard, is really useful day to day in this weather.
Please Think About Your Dog
Another linked little thing that I always feel compelled to say is, if you have a dog, please don’t be out walking them in this weather.
Maybe if you’re up at the crack of dawn when the temperatures are on or below 20 degrees for a short walk.
Dogs have a much, much less efficient cooling system than we have. We have basically the whole surface area of our skin to act like a radiator through the evaporation of sweat.
They just lose heat from the bottom of their paws, which, if you’re outdoors at the moment, isn’t going to be working because you’re making them walk on really, really hot surfaces, which can damage their paws, and through the evaporation from their tongue.
Their cooling systems are very, very inefficient compared to ours.
Even short-haired breeds are effectively going out with a woolly jumper on. Long-haired breeds are going out with a woolly jumper and a down jacket on.
Once they have got too hot, it takes them a very long time to cool down again compared to us, which again is dangerous for them. They very, very, very easily get heat stroke, much more easily than we can.
My lovely Jan, a very active dog who absolutely loves being out and about, is very much asking for her afternoon walk at the moment after she’s got out at about 6:30 in the morning, and I’m afraid the answer is a hard no.
We have a bit of play time, a bit of training indoors and a bit of play time in the paddling pool.
So please, please, please don’t put your dog at risk. It’s worth a missed walk or two, just like it’s worth a missed run or two, to err on the side of caution if you’re not sure.
Happy running.
