Forums >General Running>Desert Running
The Irreverent Reverend
I'm deployed in a desert and have been running pretty much every day. It’s getting warmer and windier, so that my dawn runs are about 85° with a hair drier wind blowing in my face. I expect the overnight low temps yet to rise 10°-15° over the summer. Hydration tips? My longest runs have been about an hour, but I’m stretching out and will be going longer over the next few weeks (90ish minutes). I run with water, but on my last few runs I’ve been sucking down hot air so that my mouth really dries out.
Husband. Father of three. Lutheran pastor. National Guardsman. Runner. Political junkie. Baseball fan.
can you chew gum?
The first thing I'd say is to realize that in that heat your body is working way harder than it would at more "normal" conditions. You're essentially relegated to always doing heat training. There are a few calculators available online that try to equivalize effort by temperature, but I'm sure they're all just best guesses at best. The point being that an hour running easy in those conditions may be like double that at a harder effort in more "normal" conditions (I'm just making that up, but you get my point). Your body will acclimate, but only to a certain point. Depending on what you're training for (if anything) just keep that in mind.
Not sure I have great ideas for hydration. You could load up on some or all of: 1) Handheld bottle; 2) Belt; 3) Camelbak pack. You can also do a shorter loop and leave a larger water holder that you can use to refill each time you pass.
If you search around for what people do when they run extreme races like Badwater 135, you might find some helpful tips. There are a few people on here who've done races like that, so I'm sure they'll chime in.
you'll acclimate. The crust in the sinuses is the worst for me.
60-64 age group - University of Oregon alumni - Irreverent and Annoying
And run at the same time? 😉
I tried gum, and I’ll try again, but it was a bit awkward ...
I don't have any advice. But thank you for your service.
runs of only an hour, you don't need to take any water with you. Drink a bit before running and have water on hand for when you finish.
I've found that loose clothing is cooler, it allows airflow next to your skin. And strangely, thin lycra arm sleeves feel cooler to me than bare arms. And they are even cooler if you get them wet. Maybe a tight lycra shirt would act the same way, dump some water on it before your run. I haven't tried that, but I know it works with the arm sleeves; I'd stop and splash water on mine from Bright Angel creek in the Grand Canyon while going through "the box" section.
Pace Prophet
Maybe you don't, but I sure would bring water in the kind of conditions he's talking about. I live in the high desert so it's not hot, but it is very dry, and my mouth feels terrible and dry. I'd carry a handheld (or two).
I used to live in Phoenix when I started running while in high school. I am trying to think back over 45 years. One thing I learned back then was to most of time to keep hydrated. I usually carried a bottle of water. One thing i learned in the summer was to wear clothes to be loose. Another thing I learned then although i have gotten out of that way most of the time was to breathe through my nose rather than my mouth. Phoenix in the summer dried out your mouth almost instantly and keeping the mouth shut helped a lot. I also use that idea here in Minnesota when I am running in the below zero temperatures.
Old , Ugly and slow
If it is hot I take water no matter the distance
first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007
2019 goals 1000 miles , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes
If you START hydrated, then it takes at least 30-45 minutes to have even a hint of dehydration, and even after an hour it's not enough to have any health effects. In temps up into the 90's, I don't bother with fluids if I'm running for an hour or less. I might drink a whole 500ml when I get DONE, for sure. If I know it's going to be more than an hour in temps above 75 I'll take a little with me or do a route with drinking fountains. I often don't get thirsty even on 90 minute runs in 70's. We're supposed to "drink to thirst" now, not plan X-amount of water per minute. That advice will probably change!
To each his own. Do whatever works for you. For me, carrying water for runs less than an hour is just extra weight and hassle.
#artbydmcbride
In a desert area, if you can always guarantee nothing will go amiss..a turned ankle, a wrong turn down an unfamiliar trail...sure, leave water behind. The weight is soo annoying.
But if anything goes wrong and you are out in the sun longer than anticipated, that water may well save your life.
Runners run
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In a desert area, if you can always guarantee nothing will go amiss..a turned ankle, a wrong turn down an unfamiliar trail...sure, leave water behind. The weight is soo annoying. But if anything goes wrong and you are out in the sun longer than anticipated, that water may well save your life.
I agree with this. Its been 90s and high humidity here, and a fair number of runners have been carrying water with them. I don't, but that is because I'm lazy, and because we're running in civilization where I can always go to a store, or a house, or ring for help, if things go wrong.
If I was running in the desert in these conditions, I'd be carrying water.
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
Depends on the "desert". Phoenix is a desert. Las Vegas is a desert. The vast majority of runners live and run in cities, not in the wilderness. OF COURSE I take water if I'm running out to the Joint Trail in Canyonlands National Park, even though it's only about a 90 minute loop. But I'm not going to take any water on a 5-10 mile run on my regular routes at home, even in 90 degree weather because I already drank about 300ml before starting, and have water waiting for me when I finish (or drinking fountains along the way).
My point is that Big Water; corporations and billionaires, are making you think you need more water than you actually do (it's a conspiracy, man!). People confuse being hot with being dehydrated, and they also confuse heat exhaustion with being dehydrated. And it can result in life threatening hyponatremia.
I also know that the BEST water for you is from a place the furthest away from where you live, for us in the USA that would be water from Fiji, New Zealand, and the Himalayas. If you lived in those places, the best water for you might be Calistoga Spring Water from California. I learned this from advertisements by Big Water. Oh, and water should have it's PH levels changed, because even though your body regulates it's own PH levels and you only make it work harder by trying to change them, that PH water is more expensive, ergo, better.