Racing in Hot Weather

  1. Water, water and more water: start drinking lots of water NOW. If you fill a one or two liter bottle of water in the morning and keep drinking small amounts from it, then you’ll know how much you drank over the course of the day.
  2. Don’t go to the beach, do lawn work, or anything else out in the sun on the day before the race.  This will just leave you dehydrated before you even start on race day.
  3. Stick with light, easy to digest foods leading up to the race. Salty and/or fatty foods are going to take more water to digest.
  4. Avoid alcohol, coffee and tea—these are all diuretics and will just draw water out of your system and make you have to pee more.
  5. Wear lightweight, wicking fabrics—RMHP club uniforms are perfect!
  6. Wear a hat and sports sunglasses, if it is a bright day. Soak the hat with water before the start of the race (unless it’s too cold for this).
  7. Use lots of lubricant on any areas that MIGHT chafe or blister. The Glide Stick, Vaseline, bag balm are all helpful. If an area might chafe or blister in training, it WILL chafe/blister in a long run on a hot day.
  8. Stay in cool shade for as long as you can before the race. Do NOT hang around out in the sun until you absolutely have to be at the race start.
  9. If it is above 60-65 degrees, you might want to douse your head, neck and back with water before the gun goes off. Here’s the reason: your body cools when sweat evaporates from your skin. But it takes several minutes into the race to get a good sweat going. If you douse yourself with water before the start, it acts as artificial sweat, cooling your body immediately.
  10. Take water early and often during the race. It takes 20-30 minutes for water to get from mouth to muscles, so don’t wait until you start to get thirsty.
  11. Grab two cups at each water stop—first one to drink from; second one to pour over your head and back. In a big race, most water stops are long enough so that you can grab one cup, drink, then grab the second cup and pour.
  12. RACE CONSERVATIVELY!!! In hot weather conditions, the smart runner wins. Start out a little slower and build into the race—you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how many people you’ll pass later in the race.
  13. Account for the heat in your race splits. Don’t get discouraged if they are slower than what you had hoped for—you have to make adjustments.
  14. At the finish line, get wet and drink more water—after a hard race in warm weather, you will need to keep drinking lots of water to help your body rehydrate and recover.