Question:I'm wondering how much the heat and humidity affects a bodies ability to
run and how much did it affect my run?
I thought my current training regimen would help me out in this quest
but since I had the terrible run this last weekend, I'm beginning to have
my doubts of my ability.
Answer:
Same problems here. I'm training for the NYC Marathon too, my first
marathon. While I haven't quite gotten up to 40, I've been averaging 30-36 5
days a week for the past 6 weeks, with a couple of 20-milers, and with some
easy biking on rest days. And as the saying goes, it's not the heat, it's
the humidity. 100% humidity at any temperature be it 40 or 100 is horrible.
I'd rather run 20 miles on an 80 degree day with the humidity down in the
40's than 10 miles on a 70 degree day with 90-100% humidity. It's extremely
taxing, I find it a struggle to keep running, and my pace drops a minute or
more. It's on days like these, such as this past Sunday, that make me wonder
if it's worth it. But I know that it is, and even if I have to walk the last
few miles I intend to finish.
The fact that you've been able to do as much as 18 miles seems to indicate
that you can do the marathon. You should try to do 1 or 2 20-mile runs in
the next few weeks. There's one this coming weekend sponsored by the NYRRC,
as you probably know. As for the humidity, my personal feeling is that once
it gets past a certain percentage, there's no point in going too long, and
it might even do you some harm. Try to go long on less humid days. Also, you
might want to reconsider cutting back on the cycling a bit as 80 seems a bit
high for someone who's running 40 miles/5 times a week, especially if most
of it is on non-running days. This might be excessively draining your
energy. It's hard to disciple oneself to not overtrain, and you have to be
careful about this or you'll burn out or get sick or injured. You need those
easy or rest days.
Hang in there and do not get discouraged. I did a long training run this past
weekend for the NY marathon as well. With the heat/humidity we had here on
Long Island last weekend it was no picnic. Try agin in two weeks and I'll bet
your long run will go much easier.
T minus five weeks and counting. Just think, only two more weeks of heavy
training and then its time for the taper.
Don't let one bad workout - which was caused by the heat - get you down. Learn
from it (slow down and drink more in those conditions) and carry on. Your
training sounds good.
also keep in mind that your body doesn't "know" how many miles you're
running -- what it knows is how long you've been going + how dehydrated
you are + if you were stressed that day + if you got enough sleep the
night before + did you eat properly.
a few months back, when I was just making the transition from 10 to 12-mile
runs, I had one day where I planned on running 12. I went out there,
it was hot and humid, I tried to stop for water when I could but I just
didn't have enough, and I felt horrid. I turned back early and the run
turned out to be only 10 miles.
However, I figured that my body had gone through an experience equivalent
to "running 12 miles on a good day". and I was right: the next time
I tried to run 12 miles, on a cooler day, it was a breeze.
I too planned to run 20 last week and stopped at 13.
