The Science of Running
The case for overdressing; Training your gut; The downside of mouthwash; Sleep your way to success
May is a big marathon month in Canada, with major races in Vancouver, Calgar y, Saskatoon, Mississauga, Ottawa and elsewhere. It’s great to finally put away the balaclava and feel the sun on your cheeks. There’s a problem, though: after a slogging through months of winter training, many runners are unprepared for the summer-like heat that sometimes accompanies these races. It generally takes about two weeks of hot-weather exercise for your body to adapt by increasing sweat rate and blood volume and lowering your core temperature – but the weather gods don’t always make that possible.
In recent years, sports scientists have begun testing alternate methods of speeding up your body’s heat adaptations. One option is to hop in a hot bath or sauna for 20 minutes or so immediately after a workout to keep your core temperature elevated. Another, simpler option that runners have self-experimented with for decades is to do some runs while wearing a lot of extra clothing. That’s the approach that a new study from researchers at the University of Oregon, published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, tested.
The results were encouraging: 10 of the 13 runners in the study managed to boost their core temperature above 38.5 C, which is thought to be the approximate threshold needed for heat adaptation, by the end of a one-hour run in 15 degree ambient temperature. The catch? They were seriously overdressed, with five layers of tops and bottoms plus a f leece hat, mittens, a waterproof jacket, and rain pants. You have to be uncomfortably hot, in other words. If that trade-off – misery now in exchange for better heat tolerance on race day – sounds reasonable to you, lead researcher Brett Ely suggests trying it starting two to three weeks before race day and aiming for 10 to 14 overdressed runs.