Running In 30 Degree Weather – What Should You Know?

Running in 30 degree weather doesn’t come without risks. Running at this temperature can cause dehydration, muscle cramps, and overheating. If you run for long periods above 30 degrees, you may even find it causes excessive sweating, headaches, nausea, tiredness, and dizziness.

While this is not always the case for some people, it is still important to prepare yourself when running at this temperature.

In this article today, we discuss how to limit the risks of running above 30 degrees. What you should know, and how you can prevent things like excessive sweating, headaches, nausea, tiredness, and dizziness.

Understanding Running In Warm Weather

Running in 30 degrees Celsius doesn’t come without consequences. Often runners that head out in this temperature can experience dehydration, overheating, muscle cramps, headaches, and more. While some may not experience these, most people will see a rapid decline in speed.

Generally, running at anything above 30 degrees will affect performance, and you will find that you won’t be able to hold the same speed or run the same distance as you would in milder temperatures.

Because of this, it is important to listen to your body and precautions against getting too hot. This means drinking enough fluids before, during, and after your run. It also means avoiding running during the warmest parts of the day (11 am-3 pm).

Running in 30 degree weather – Everything You Should Know

While running in 30-degree weather may be considered a risk to children, the elderly, and pregnant women. As long as precautions are taken, running in 30-degree weather should be fine.

In fact, many running events take place in temperatures above 30 degrees. For example, the Death Valley ultramarathon, where runnings are subject to weather above 50 degrees Celsius. Other events like the Marathon des Sables often reach temperatures above 40 degrees.

Studies show that preparing in a heat chamber and having enough hydration, preparation, and understanding of intensity can dramatically reduce the effects of warm weather.

While most people don’t have access to a heat chamber, the right hydration strategy and understanding of how hard to run in warm weather (heart rate), can make running in warm weather much easier. It is important to note that wearing light and breathable clothing can help reduce the body from overheating during a warm weather run.

Last but not least, consider acclimatizing to the temperature you plan to run in. That means if you plan to run an event in much warmer conditions than you are used to, try to head away to warmer climates for at least 14 days before the event.

The Body Can adapt To Heat

One of the great things about the human body is that it can regulate temperature similar to animals. This allows us to continue running when the temperature gets warmer.

The body learns to adapt to warmer climates by increasing sweat rate and blood volume. It also causes the body to reduce the amount of electrolytes lost.

While this may sound like running in warmer temperatures is easy, it is still far from that. The higher the temperature means more hydration is needed to keep up with the increased sweat loss.

The hotter the environment means to maintain core temperature regular hydration is needed. This can mean up to one liter of sweat needs to be replaced per hour. However, for some runners, it can be much more.

If you are unsure of how much hydration is needed when conditions get warmer, a simple sweat test can help you gauge the hydration amount you need.

This can be done by:

– Going toilet and weighing yourself without clothes on
– Perform your workout and record how much you drank during your workout.
– Once you have performed your workout, towel dry yourself, and then record your weight without clothes.
– Now subtract your post-workout weight from your pre-workout weight.

This will give you an estimated idea of how much sweat was lost during your workout. Just remember to keep the calculation based on runs above 45 minutes, otherwise, you may find your results can be skewed (fuel utilization – burning glycogen during exercise).