How much effect does a hot day have on a mile race? I mean, obviously the times may be a bit slower, but for someone running 4-5 minutes, is it really that big of a deal?
How much effect does a hot day have on a mile race? I mean, obviously the times may be a bit slower, but for someone running 4-5 minutes, is it really that big of a deal?
I would say not. I pr'd in high school big time when it was 100 degrees plus humidity on the track. id say 5k it starts to really effect the times. maybe 2mile
I believe it can actually help if you swept off a couple pounds before the race...as long as you don't overdo the warmup.
Yeah, I mean obviously if you're running a 5k in the blistering heat, the times are going to be way off. But I feel like running for a bit over four minutes is not going to have a major impact on times. I basically just posted this to confirm my own theory, because I am a bit nervous about this race, haha.
Try to warm up but stay as cool as possible too. If you get your core temperature up high for 20 minutes before the race, you may sub-perform.
heat does not that mean much for the actual race but it can drain you if are exposed continuously a few hours before the race.
you can warm up a couple of hours before the race.
then stay cool and get to the track 30-40 minutes before the race and rewarm up with a couple of strides only.
No - but if you're not a good heat runner, it can get in your head a bit. Also can effect any other event(s) you might be doing that day i.e. doubles, triples.
It effects me big time...Sure, maybe if you have an ice vest and the facilities to not let your core body temp rise as you warm up etc it won't effect you and may be of minor benefit but that will rarely be the case. Following the ideas of the 'central governor' theory, your body intuitively senses the temperature and moderates muscle recruitment et al to manage/preempt a dangerous rise in body temp.
That being said, people have different abilities to dissipate heat and if you train for the heat the impact will be much less. There are certainly lots of variables that influence how much it will slow you down and managing your warm up properly can potentially mitigate the impact.
An anecdote of how it's impacted me: one week it was hot +humid [~low 90s w/ ~70% humidity) and calm, the next week it was cool [low 70s and ~20% humidity] and windy [~15mph, something which certainly slows you down, I've seen estimates of ~1s per lap]...the outcome, I ran about 5s faster for a 1600m.
Both were time trials by myself, both were PRs, both had a similar warm up [12 min jog to the track,& ~10 min drills, strides et al]...but I'm a bigger guy that does horribly in the heat.
Maybe a second or two slower if you're heat acclimated.
PR was 4:26 mile, 4:05 1500; at 100 F I once did 4:28, same summer as the 1500 PR. As a masters ran 4:38 in 90 degree heat with 80% humidity, and that was masters PR. 3000 and up, the heat will have more of an effect.
So generally people would recommend warming earlier than usual, staying cool as much as possible before the race, and then doing some light dynamics/strides before the race?