Fast Running Blog

I'm currenlty running between 30 and 40 miles a week. Most of those miles are on a treadmill due to the heat here in Austin. (105 yesterday) I'd like to get out at 6am, but I have a 9 month old and she keeps both my wife and I busy so I've been running at the gym during lunch.

Here is my question. Is anyone else having to log most of their runs on the readmill? If so, are you doing speed work on the treadmill as well? My goal by the end of September is to loose 10 lbs. and drop my 1/4 mile repeats from 1:30 to 1:20.
thanks,
Carlton.

RivertonPaul is a good example for using extensive treadmill training

I have a lot of experience running in the heat and running on treadmills.  Having lived in places like Texas for a big part of my life I have learned that your body can adapt quite well to running in temperatures in the 80's and 90's with humidity but you have to drink tons of water and allow yourself to adapt to it over time.  I think it usually takes about 10 days of running in the heat for the body to adapt.  I would definitely avoid running in the late morning or afternoon and shoot for late evening if the morning doesn't work.  I realize that it is still quite hot in Texas at 9:00 pm, but your body can adapt.

As for treadmill running, I have found that the best thing for me is to use a heart rate monitor with the treadmills that will adjust the incline to keep your heart rate at a specific target.  A lot of them are compatible with Polar heart rate monitors.  This works well if you want to get the effects of speed (because of the incline) without having to be sprinting on the treadmill, which I can find a bit scary if I am doing a 5:00 mile pace. lol  A lot of the fancier, newer treadmills have this capability, or you can use an older one and just use the watch with the heart rate monitor.  Personally, I think that doing tempo runs is a lot better on a treadmill than doing speed intervals because you don't have to go quite so fast, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do, right? :)

Good luck!

I've also been doing tempo runs on the treadmill, but they are so freaking boring. After about 4 or 5 miles I find myself checking the distance every 1/8 of a mile. Even with my iPod and some good music it's rough going past 6 miles for me.
I haven't tried using the incline, that might be a good break from the speed workouts. Thanks.

I really can't run on treadmills unless it is the absolute only way I can get a run in (like when I was traveling in Taiwan where there are no sidewalks and thousands of cars and motorcycles on the road!!).  So, I just adapt.

My experience is similar to Ben's -- I find I can run in temps up to 96 - 98F pretty easily (I haven't tried 100 yet) as long as I am not in direct sun.  In Nashville, where the humidity is what does you in, I would always find myself doing my long runs at 10-11AM (despite it being a miserable time of day to run) heat index was pretty much always 100 or so.  I would just adjust my pace and drink lots of water.  It takes me about 14 days to acclimate - and even though it is never pleasant, I haven't (yet) not been able to run outdoors no matter how hot it is ... I do adjust my pace though, especially at the beginning of my run, I run at least 10 secs/mile slower than usual (better if you HR train - because then it is even easier to adjust your pace).  This includes track workouts.  Even though I am running them slower, when it comes time to race (especially if it is in cooler weather) I am almost always in the same shape (meaning, I haven't ever lost any fitness because of running a little slower in the summertime).

Good luck.

I live in Austin as well and I am training for Chicago in October.  There is another posting on this board a couple weeks old about training in the heat which is a good read.
Here is what I do:
I run 6 days a week. 
I am out the door every morning between 5:30 and 6 am.  We have an 18 month old that still gives us fits at night - so it comes down to a level of comittment.  Even if I was up since 4 am I still get out there and do my run. 
I run some faster paced miles on the track.  I have a towel to keep the sweat wiped off me and a big jug of ice water to pour on my head when needed.  Since I am on a track I can make frequent stops.
If absolutely necessary I will run short (6 miles) runs on the inside track at my gym - these are usally slow pace miles.  24 hour fitness on 183 and Braker has a 1/10th mile indoor track. 
Last resort I will run on the "dreadmill" - but it is a very last resort and I have only done so one time.  You are running on a steel plate as well - give me pavement any day. 
I never do fast paced workouts on the indoor track or dreadmill. 
I take electrolyte tabs before and after my workouts.  This has helped tremendously.
I have water stops mapped out on my runs - for example, I found a couple gas stations with water hoses outside where I can stop and get some water.
I will carry a body of ice water (I have a belt designed for this) and ditch it 1/2 way or so and come back and pick it up after my run (I hate running with these things.)  I also know people who will stash water bottles before their runs so they don't have to carry anything.
Another option is to run at 8 - 9 pm - I can't run this late but some people do.
I have been running in the high humidity and heat now for several weeks - only this week do I feel like my body has finally adapted to it. 
I hope this helps even if I have not answered your original question - I just don't do any training on a treadmill.
All the best,
David

Bonnie & David,
Thanks for the encouragment. Now I really feel like a wimp.
We finally got some rain today and it's about 20 degrees cooler so maybe I can go for a run this afternoon.

David - I live about 2 miles from 24 Hour Fitness and use to be a member until Pure Austin opened.

No way, you are not a wimp ... I have heard it is brutal there right now.  What I was trying to say, was it takes time to acclimate!  And, don't worry if you have to run a little slower because of the heat.

Carlton -

Like Bonnie said - it takes time. 

I live up by Spicewood Springs road and run Jollyville Road all the time.  If you ever want to run some base miles, etc. together, let me know.  I also use the track at Spicewood Springs Middle School for my track workouts.

I ran in Florida for about 9 years and have just moved to Georgia, where 90's to 100's in the summer is the norm.  I understand how the heat can be, but have just tried to remain smart about the time I go out and the pace given the heat and especially staying hydrated.  As far as speed work at the gym, I have been doing that for the past few months.  My new gym actually offers a class called 'Tread and Shed', which is an interval workout.  We run about two miles on the treadmill, ranging from 50% of what our top pace is up to the fastest we can go, which is considered 100%.  Our instructor has us run them in intervals, running at 50% for a minute then 60%, etc.  For the last 5 to 10 minutes on the treadmill, she has us taking up the incline to about 6% to mimic the hills we are about to run outside.  She then takes us outside for about a mile to a mile and a half, running a combination of hills and then speed work.  It's exhausting, but a great workout. 

Unfortunately this topic is becoming very real for me (again).  I'm leaving the very dry and relatively cool (mid-80's) Utah for hot and humid Florida on a business trip.  I'll probably spend about 6-8 weeks in Florida over the next 4 months, while trying to do 90-100 mile weeks.  Should be fun.

Jon:

Be careful. If you get sick off that kind of mileage at home in cooler weather, that does not bode well for trying to do it in Florida while on a business trip. I do not know about your business trips, but when I've gone on mine my client did not arrange my schedule to make it is easy to run high mileage. I found that with the stress of being away from home and under the demands of work I lacked the health to run more than 60 miles a week  even in friendly climate. I could do 90 at home just fine.

I was recently told that the best way to train for altitude, if you don't have altitude, is to run in the heat.  Would anyone like to comment on that?

What was their rationale?

Burt,
I have read a couple of articles about running economy in the past.  Running economy is scientifically measured by VO2 at approximately 6:00/mile pace.  The lower the VO2 at that pace, the better the running economy.  Results have found that runners with the same VO2 max can have wide variations in running economy, and as a result in race performance (40+ seconds in the 10k for 2 world class runners with the same VO2 max in one study).  So, people have realized that if economy is improved then the individual will run faster even if certain measures of fitness have not improved.  However, no one has any clue as to how to improve running economy, or how to ensure that it will be good.  But, there are a few theories as to how to improve economy.  One of those is to run at altitude, another is to run in the heat.  I believe the third was to lift weights, but I am not sure on that one.  I believe that the rationale behind the first two is that when you run at altitude or in the heat, your body has to adjust to adverse conditions (lack of oxygen, and the body using energy resources to cool itself instead of powering itself) and as you continue to exercise in those conditions your body learns to optimize itself given the conditions (run with less oxygen, or use less of its energy stores to power the body) and becomes more efficient, thus improving running economy.

So, I would assume that in either scenario, whether you are training in the heat or at altitude, if economy is improved it would make it easier for you to perform well in adverse conditions.  You would use less energy at your given race pace, and thus would have more leftover energy stores to deal with whatever else was going on, be it altitude or heat, or anything else.  So, maybe it is something along those lines that has led people to say that training in the heat is the best way to train for altitude if the altitude is lacking.

I did some research about this and found two things: first, that the rational I had for the same thought was incorrect; the only other thing I found was a quote by distance coach Brad Hudson stating the same thing (but with no scientific reasoning stated of why).  So...
I still think there is something to this, but I would like to know why as well.

I have seen articles that discuss this in terms of blood volume. Blood volume decreases in moderate exercise in the heat because the heart has to pump more blood to the skin and muscles as they try to stay cool.  Blood volume also decreases during altitude training but the number of red blood cells (and hemoglobin) increase (because of the lower levels of O2 at altitude - more red blood cells and hemoglobin mean more O2 is transported to cells).  Even though the initial decrease in blood volume are similar, the mechanism and ultimate physiologic changes between these two stressors appears to be different.  I haven't found any scientific studies that have demonstrated any similar long-term training benefit.  Altitude training seems to make substainative changes that last a while (I have read 3 months, but only in one article).  I think heat training makes minimal "longer term" changes, your heart just adapts to having to pump more to keep you cool.  Having trained in both, I have found a benefit from training at altitude ... I have never really found myself in any better shape training in the heat (although despite having to run more slowly, I don't think I have lost any training due to it either).