Forums >General Running>Exhaustion from heat over months? Does such a thing exist?
So I'm currently in California, since the start of August, coming from Europe. I'm used to dry hot summers in Europe, would train in the evenings in like 25C/75F at about 40-50% relative humidity, I think? Now it's like the exact same temperature here but 70% for humidity.
Can that make me feel so overheated in an easy jog?
Background: I was fine initially but my performance and my overall training capacity started to decline by September, performance would drop then hold steady every 1-2 weeks before dropping again and so on, by now I'm back to beginner levels in terms of pace, this is crazy frustrating and makes no sense.
I'm female and I used to do ~1:30 half marathon, when I came to California, I was not in the best shape due to skipping a bit of training due to life shit, but I estimate I could still do sub 1:40 in August and tonight I just got another drop in performance, and so I was doing a 11min/mile pace for my run tonight, I'm not joking!!!
I could not even keep this run as a truly easy recovery jog either (though what I was supposed to recover from, idk, I cut out all hard workouts a few weeks ago due to not being able to handle them anymore). And on top of all that I realized I felt quite overheated, my breathing was not normal, I had the feel of getting overheated somewhat, when I stopped I felt rather exhausted for an easy jog. (I noticed some heat issues before on my runs but I didn't focus much on it, I tried to pay more attention to how it feels tonight.)
Note, I cut out all the harder workouts a few weeks ago when I tried to do 6x100m strides and my heart rate maxed out at the last one while I was only going at 11 mph. The fuck? Excuse me for the swearing. But I used to do 10mph 1000m intervals so what is this?!?
(Btw, my body was never great at handling sustained faster paces or longer racing in real heat, compared to people with the same fitness level I always had an idiosyncratic (?) issue with it but easy jogs or short sprints were always OK.)
So, can this be a heat issue? And if so, can I make my body adjust better to it? This is my last hope before I go for a neat expensive medical checkup.
The cursing lends me to think your problem might be to some degree psychological. If you are looking for a physical reason your performance is suffering, a web site that guides me is:
http://fellrnr.com/wiki/Overtraining
The medical checkup is always a good idea, especially if you haven't had one in a while.
The cursing lends me to think your problem might be to some degree psychological.
Cursing is a natural response to stressful situations. Or joyful situations. Or any situation, really.
Interval Junkie --Nobby
As someone who just lost this summer's battle with heat and humidity, I can affirm that it can have a detrimental effect on training if you don't pay close attention to it. What I mean is, if you base your splits and paces on what you think you can do, but don't adjust for the H&H you can end up overtrained.
One easy way to figure out if you're overtrained currently, or just psychologically overwhelmed H&H, is to go someplace cool/dry for an evening and bust out a hard workout. It might give an indicator of what's going on.
2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do
Hey, we're like slump twins. Slump sisters? Just what you f'ing need, right
anyway, I've been posting recently about my own $):$;/)ing running slump so just wanted to commiserate. Yes, humidity is a bitch. Stadjak is totally right that we need to adjust our expectations when it's hot and humid; and as someone who also inexplicably sucks at running in the heat (I sweat a ridiculous amount, like everyone else is lightly perspiring and I'm completely drenched, wringing puddles out of my ponytail) I agree it is best to just accept that you're slow until it gets colder.
So yeah, you might be suffering the effects of humidity and self-flagellation. But it doesn't hurt to talk to a doctor if you think something might be physically wrong, especially if the weather gets better and (like me) you're still running poorly. I honestly thought my slump must be due to iron or maybe thyroid deficiency, that's how bad it got. Fortunately I seem to be pretty healthy, so the blood tests were good for my peace of mind if nothing else.
anyway, good luck, and keep us posted.
MTA: totes making this thread all about me, but I'm thinking I might be in the same boat as stadjak and my slump comes from unwittingly overdoing it in hot humid weather. take it easy, cmon2!
thanks for the replies!
@oldrunner, lol, really, you never hear people say the fuck word? I'm with Joann on this one, yeah, I'm pissed off of course if I look at it having gone from a 8min/mile pace to a 11min/mile pace where the 11min/mile pace feels harder than the 8min/mile pace used to be (same heart rate for both). what sort of psychological issue did you mean tho? say more on this please.
@Joann I had a good laugh at your line
@stadjak, I train by heart rate so the paces were naturally adjusted. so it is not that. there would be only the option of using a gym for a cool place, I'll see if I can get to one. what do you mean by H&H?
@runharrietrun lol hey. how much worse did your paces get? I don't even sweat that much btw. I don't do "self-flagellation", I'm not that type of person. do you have a link to your thread? I'd like to look
I'm from Arizona and my run times and heart rate suffer greatly in the humidity. This year I started using Nuun hydration tablets as well as trying to increase my salt intake the day before. It helped a lot. Now that our temps are cooling and drying out my paces are getting back to normal. But I've been in Florida all weekend with 68-70 degree runs but intense humidity and I was back to my struggled runs.
so yes it's perfectly normal but people say you do acclimate to it if you live in the environment on a constant basis. So hang in there.
It is no surprise that your heart rate is going to go up. Your body is trying to cool itself and it is working harder to do so. The increase in humidity means the sweat won't evaporate as quickly and your body compensates by trying to cool itself more.
When you run in the heat and humidity, you may need to temper your expectations for these reasons. Your heart rate for the exact same run when your exact same shape will be higher in 80 F and humidity than in 40 F and no humidity.
You may have to get used to running in the heat and if you can't handle it, you may need to find other cooler times of the day to run.
@slsadler1015
I'm from Arizona and my run times and heart rate suffer greatly in the humidity. This year I started using Nuun hydration tablets as well as trying to increase my salt intake the day before. It helped a lot. Now that our temps are cooling and drying out my paces are getting back to normal. But I've been in Florida all weekend with 68-70 degree runs but intense humidity and I was back to my struggled runs. so yes it's perfectly normal but people say you do acclimate to it if you live in the environment on a constant basis. So hang in there.
Thanks. How do these hydration tablets work? Do they just contain electrolytes?
Is it also normal that I was fine for about a month after my arrival to CA before my fitness started to decline in September?
@djschroeder4
It is no surprise that your heart rate is going to go up. Your body is trying to cool itself and it is working harder to do so. The increase in humidity means the sweat won't evaporate as quickly and your body compensates by trying to cool itself more. When you run in the heat and humidity, you may need to temper your expectations for these reasons. Your heart rate for the exact same run when your exact same shape will be higher in 80 F and humidity than in 40 F and no humidity. You may have to get used to running in the heat and if you can't handle it, you may need to find other cooler times of the day to run.
Please, I understand you are trying to help but it is pointless if you just skim my posts and then apply the wrong generic template. I run at the same heart rates as always, to keep this same heart rate I slow my pace accordingly. But my pace kept slowing over the last few weeks, while the weather remained the same, this essentially equating to me losing a lot of fitness. Also, I stated that I run in the evenings, no cooler times of the day here than that.
Omfg so much worse. In the spring, an easy run was 5:30/km. by the end of August it was over 7 min/km. like, seriously? Wtf?
Here's my thread
A move from Europe to California is pretty major. I've moved countries a couple of times (U.S. To UK, then to Germany) and in retrospect I can see how hard it was on me both times, even though I thought I had everything under control. Anyway - Any time I read about heart rate training they emphasize that life stress can influence your training. It makes sense to me that you'd be ok for a while, but then the accumulated stress would catch up with you. I would think the weather would be just one of many different things that take some getting used to.
Yes the Nuun tablets are filled with electrolytes. I've always carried water and Gatorade for my hot summer runs but this summer was the first time using Nuun and I was surprised how well they worked. Their website describes the different tablets they carry. I used Nuun active and for long runs added Nuun plus for the endurance benefits.
It seems strange that you were fine after you got to Cali and then it started, but I wonder if it got more hot and humid?
#artbydmcbride
Cali is almost unbearable this summer.
Runners run
H&H = Heat and Humidity.
Hmm, if you're using a hrm then I don't think I know enough to help you. I would think that would help everything but recovery time (which would be longer in the heat because of heat dissipation.
So I'm currently in California, since the start of August, coming from Europe. I'm used to dry hot summers in Europe, would train in the evenings in like 25C/75F at about 40-50% relative humidity, I think? Now it's like the exact same temperature here but 70% for humidity. Can that make me feel so overheated in an easy jog? Background: I was fine initially but my performance and my overall training capacity started to decline by September, performance would drop then hold steady every 1-2 weeks before dropping again and so on, by now I'm back to beginner levels in terms of pace, this is crazy frustrating and makes no sense. I'm female and I used to do ~1:30 half marathon, when I came to California, I was not in the best shape due to skipping a bit of training due to life shit, but I estimate I could still do sub 1:40 in August and tonight I just got another drop in performance, and so I was doing a 11min/mile pace for my run tonight, I'm not joking!!! I could not even keep this run as a truly easy recovery jog either (though what I was supposed to recover from, idk, I cut out all hard workouts a few weeks ago due to not being able to handle them anymore). And on top of all that I realized I felt quite overheated, my breathing was not normal, I had the feel of getting overheated somewhat, when I stopped I felt rather exhausted for an easy jog. (I noticed some heat issues before on my runs but I didn't focus much on it, I tried to pay more attention to how it feels tonight.) Note, I cut out all the harder workouts a few weeks ago when I tried to do 6x100m strides and my heart rate maxed out at the last one while I was only going at 11 mph. The fuck? Excuse me for the swearing. But I used to do 10mph 1000m intervals so what is this?!? (Btw, my body was never great at handling sustained faster paces or longer racing in real heat, compared to people with the same fitness level I always had an idiosyncratic (?) issue with it but easy jogs or short sprints were always OK.) So, can this be a heat issue? And if so, can I make my body adjust better to it? This is my last hope before I go for a neat expensive medical checkup.
Hey C,
Sorry to hear about the regression, and welcome to the U.S.
Getting slower at the same HR from your benchmark in the same weather conditions is definitely not a good sign. First thing that comes to mind is your total stress levels since moving. Increased and abnormally high levels of mental stress combined with your normal volume can sometimes bring on a mild case of overtraining. From personal experience in making a long distance move to more stressful weather is that it tanked my pace at the same HR for awhile. Selling the house, moving, buying a house, and acclimating took its toll. Moving to California would be stressful for many Americans not used to such an environment of not only weather, but the social environment and pace of life, and the air quality. It must be stressful for someone coming from many places in Europe as well. Big time zone change can add to the stress on the body. Make note of how much mental stress has increased. A cut back in running volume, perhaps more walking more for awhile, sometimes helps to bring total stress levels down until you get used to things, and stop the regression.
I know you know all about the Vitamin D and iron, so I won't go there. Good luck, I hope you work it out and get the pace at the same HR back on the progress curve.