Fall or spring is the best season for a marathon. The reason being, it’s too hot to run our practice in summer. Like higher altitudes, summer poses serious challenges to athletes. A normal human body cannot perform optimally during high humid or temperature levels.
If you have to exercise in summer, lowering your expectations is inevitable. As such, you need to craft a training approach, gear, and time for the summer weather. If you pull this one through, you may brace yourself for a better racing season in fall or spring.
Why is Running in Summer So Difficult?
Well, there are so many reasons that make it hard to run or exercise in the summer heat. Such include the high temperature, sun exposure, and humid levels.
But above these, heat is the biggest obstacle of all. The heat raises your body temperature thus making running harder for you. But that’s not all! The high humid levels don’t allow sweat to evaporate into the atmosphere. As the result, your body not only becomes hot but also loses the ability to cool itself.
Use these tips for a successful exercise in summer.
- Adjust Your Race and Workout Time
Here’s the truth. Training and exercising will be slower in the summer. Keep this in mind when planning or evaluating your performance.
Here’s the explanation, a normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Working out raises your body temperature which helps increase blood flow to the muscles. It’s this rationale that athletes are advised to warm up before a race.
However, as the temperature rises, your performance starts to decline. At 102 degrees, your body diverts the blood from the working muscles towards the skin to cool. The resultant effect is a reduction in performance.
- Avoid Fatigue Backup
Muscle’s recovery rate is lower in summer. But why? Your body will consume resources vital for healing to cool itself. As seen above, your body will pump blood to the skin for cooling at the expense of muscles that need oxygen for healing.
For this reason, you need to take the beta-alanine supplement to help with muscle healing. The supplement helps your body to increase the carnosine muscle levels in the body. The muscle works to prolong the time to fatigue thus improving your overall performance.
- Get Enough Sleep
Yes, you want to beat the heat by running early in the morning. Some athletes may start their exercises at 5:00 am or earlier. However, these athletes rarely sleep early to compensate for the earlier wake-ups. For most of them, it’s the best time to enjoy the weather by catching up with friends.
Don’t make this mistake. If you wake up early to go exercise, ensure you compensate this time by sleeping in early. That’s the only way to boost your performance during this hard weather.
Conclusion
Summer is the best season for outdoor activities like cycling, running, or swimming. However, the high heat and humid levels may pose a challenge to these outdoor activities. But don’t let this deny you an opportunity to run or exercise, instead, learn how to adapt to these extreme weather changes.
