Train Hot – Race Fast

A busy March has come to an end and April has started. The marathon in early March was followed by a few easy weeks without much running. I planned to have two easy weeks after the race, but it became almost four weeks due to injuries, colds and a busy schedule. Despite Thailand’s stemming hot April weather, I aim to train hard in a true “no pain, no gain” approach.

According this article, the high temperatures may actually improve your running performance. The heat challenges your body to get blood to the skin to avoid dangerously high body temperatures and at the same time deliver blood to the muscles. After a few days’ exercise in the heat, the body starts to acclimate to it. Then you start benefit from it.

Blood volume increases, less oxygen is needed to generate the same amount of power, the heart becomes more efficient, and muscles become more forceful and use less glycogen, their preferred fuel.

Now, if you train in high temperatures and then run a race in a cooler climate, will it be in your favor or perhaps be a disadvantage? Christopher T. Minson, professor of human physiology at the University of Oregon, conducted an experiment on experienced cyclists. The results after this 10-day study were remarkable.

It was even better than altitude training, he added — the performance advantage was slightly greater and more consistent than what athletes get when they “live high, train low”

The drawback however, is that when you train in hot and humid weather, your body slows down to prevent getting dangerously hot. Hence, you cannot run as fast as you otherwise would have.

If you want to get the most out of this heat acclimation, Dr. Minson suggests you to do most of your workouts outside and then go into a cool, dry gym for your speed workout. (Ao! Then I have to run on the treadmill!)

Dr. Benjamin D. Levine, director of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine in Dallas, thinks this kind of heat stress training has been neglected. Though more research is needed, results are striking enough for Dr. Levine to suggest that elite athletes should think of using heat in addition to altitude for their training.