Runnin' Through The Heat - Um, Everyone Else At Least

Ah, the heat of summer. The Bay Area is a bit lagged behind the rest of the country. We are only just now reaching into the mid 90's, which is approaching record levels (although we haven't broken any records yet). We've been blessed with a relatively cool summer for the most part, which is especially nice considering we are in a relatively dry area. That being said, I've avoided running, for the most part, in the evenings here recently because of the heat. I think, "Why do I want to try and run through that?" Blah, no thanks, I'll take a few miles on the treadmill and call it a day.

This isn't to say that I can't nor won't run on a hot day. I have and will in the future, no doubt. But I would rather not, so I don't.

This is why I admire all you troopers out there slogging through the heat and humidity in order to stay on track with your training schedule. Running in heat that I am hiding from in an air conditioned office and car (unfortunately no AC in the house), knowing that you will become a better runner because of it.

Not me says the brown cow. I'll stay inside for a few weeks until the temp drops down again. I'll dream of cooler days when running hard is barely enough to fend off the cool air. And while I dream of the cooler days to come I will most certainly admire, almost envy, the tenacity you all have in pushing through that heat.

Nancy's Two Cents

I thought this was a great comment by Nancy on my last post. She explained this facet of hydration much better than I could of and thought it worth while to post it.

"You and I keep learning this one again and again. :)

A couple technical things....Caffeine from pop is a diuretic [From Webster's Dictionary: tending to increase the excretion of urine], so you will actually lose ground on hydration even though you are drinking.

Also, less water in your system means less water in the blood. Most athlete's blood volume actually increases to be able to carry more oxygen and meet your increased needs. So if you are low on water and your blood volume goes down, that means the blood is thicker and harder for your heart to pump around, less oxygen gets to your muscles and tissues, and so you are working harder and not getting the results. Does that make sense?

It helps me to think of it this way, especially when I want a pop. I have decided that pop is a treat and I need to hydrate over and above if I am going to drink it."

Great comment Nancy. I will hope to use your method and think of this before drinking my next soda, but we'll see. I tend to go in spurts, I always have. I will drink nothing but water for months and then all of a sudden I will switch and drink nothing but soda. And so on the cycle continues. Sometimes I even think "I need to stop drinking soda so much" and then reach for the can of Dr. Pepper and open it up. Strange. Anyway, some great info.

The Dehydration Conundrum

So I've been trying to find the article that referenced the effect that a decreased amount of water in your muscles would have on running. Unfortunately, I was unable to find it, but I did find a few other articles that helped shed more light and explain everything in such a way that it will be easy to implement.

The first article does a great job in explaining the effects of dehydration. It gives an example that mimics my previous question (which was what is the effect of drinking less fluids over time, which results in less water in your muscles) and shows a "3% decline in performance for each 1% decrease in body weight due to dehydration". The article can be found here.

The second article is a bit of a mish mash of virtually everything revolving around dehydration. Ultimately what I got out of it for myself was that the serious cramping from the marathon and the soreness at the end of the recent half marathon is a combination of factors. Numero uno is, of course, dehydration. Granted, I drank a decent amount of water during the half marathon, but I wasn't well hydrated before the race. I hadn't had much water the day before and only had a little bit of water just before the race. So with decreased water comes decreased oxygen flow to the muscle. Add to both of these the drop in potassium and you have cramps. So what I needed was to drink more water and to also control the potassium level in my blood in order to prevent cramping in the calves. The article can be found here.

Finally, the third article is a pretty good article because it does a very good dissection of marathon running and its effect on your body, including dehydration. It is short and succinct, giving a clear picture of what our bodies go through when running such long distances. The article can be found here.

What it all boils down to is drink more fluids, both before, during and after a race. Doing as I have recently, that is drinking more soda than water, certainly decreases the amount of water in my muscles which will automatically handicap myself. So hydration is an ongoing matter (duh! I am still learning the basic tenements of running I guess, and I will probably still be learning them years down the road), one that should not be a "I know I've been eating and hydrating bad these last few weeks/months, but I will make up for it by eating and drinking better the week before the race". Not only does this make you under perform during your training but it will also make you unprepared for race day.

Lesson learned (again!).

Connecting The Dots

So I was talking with my sister yesterday and she may have helped me connect the dots. Recently, since before the marathon, I've started drinking a ton of soda again. Sometimes I would even go through the whole day with no water, only soda (I know, what kind of runner subsists on soda only?), which is a very bad habit. The days leading into the marathon I did this, as well as leading into the half marathon this past weekend.

So my sister mentioned that maybe my muscles are little bit dehydrated because I am not drinking enough water to offset the soda. This got me thinking. I remembered reading an article, either online or in a magazine (if anyone remembers such an article please let me know), that said that a small fluctuation in the amount of water in your muscles can lead to fatigue early on in your run. So I most certainly didn't have the correct "water balance" in my muscles. So would this also mean that low water in the muscles, plus long run, equals very sore muscles?

If so this would explain why my calves were/are sore still from the half marathon on Saturday (when I usually don't get sore) and perhaps also explains why my calves seized up on me during the marathon. Food for thought.

PS Thanks Sis!

The Morning After

Holy sweet mother of... calves. Woke up this morning and rolled out of bed, set my feet down and stood up. Whoa, slow down there. My calves were screaming at me. I don't think I've ever had my calves feel this sore, even after both marathons and my first half marathon last year. Did the SF marathon reset my calves or something - CTRL-ALT-DEL - and leave me with calves that need to be re-conditioned again? Strange...

My half marathon was flat, very flat, and I didn't run it faster than I've ever run it before. Can't figure out why this race caused such soreness. Any ideas?