RUN AS ONE SINGAPORE
BEAT THE HEAT TO OPTIMISE YOUR PERFORMANCE
By Guy Crawford, Pro triathlete and MetaSport HeadCoach
With the Run As One Singapore just around the corner it’s time to start planning your race. We want to ensure you have your best possible run, are safe and enjoy the experience. As such we recommend running in an off-peak time to avoid the heat of the day, and ensure you are well hydrated before, during and after your run.
As most of you will know racing during the heat of the day is much harder on your body than early morning or evenings. Your body works harder to maintain the appropriate core temperature, you sweat more to reduce heat stress, and your heart rate is higher. Ultimately all of this takes a bigger toll on your body than if you ran the exact same race outside sunshine hours. The end result is a slower race time.
Our research shows that 10pm – 5am is the coolest time of day in Singapore – so why not go out and enjoy a midnight run? You’ll have the course, and Singapore’s stunning skyline views to yourself. Alternatively, the next coolest time of day to run is early morning before sunrise (prior to 6:30am) and late evening (8pm-10pm) when the sun’s radiant heat is at a minimum.
A few key notes for running in the heat & humidity:
Pre-cooling: Recent research suggests that cooling yourself down before you start exercising provides a bigger margin for your core body temperature to rise. This results in more time before your body feels the effects of heat distress. A reduced warm-up (we still encourage some form of warm up to avoid injury, but it can be short) and drinking chilled drinks can help also. This doesn’t mean drinking a huge amount of water, have a sports drink and some water handy and sip at it through the day. A little extra sodium is ok too.
Targeted cooling: Scientists have found that cooling certain areas of the body (hands, feet, head, arms and wrists) results in cooler blood flowing back to the centre of the body. Putting ice or wet sponges under a running cap, or holding them against your arms can do the trick. This might not be possible. But if you do have an ice-cool water bottle, spraying that onto your hands/head and wrists while running will make you feel better and reduce your risk of overheating.
Pace Yourself: Don’t go too hard, too soon.
Yes, it’s Singapore, so it’s going to be warm regardless of the time of day, so do yourself a favour by being prepared, choose a good time to run, hydrate, pace yourself and you will have a fantastic experience.
We look forward to sharing your running journey.
