{"id":2407,"date":"2017-07-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-22T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webinology.website\/nation2021\/why-running-in-the-heat-feels-harder-and-what-to-do-to-stay-safe\/"},"modified":"2021-11-03T13:00:12","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T17:00:12","slug":"why-running-in-the-heat-feels-harder-and-what-we-should-do-to-stay-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coachup.com\/nation\/articles\/why-running-in-the-heat-feels-harder-and-what-we-should-do-to-stay-safe","title":{"rendered":"Why Running in the Heat Feels Harder and What to Do to Stay Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Running in the heat can and will challenge the body and mind much more intensely because the body responds to the heat in a very specific way, slowing us down and making our effort seem that much greater. Therefore you should not be trying to run your normal pace<\/strong> until you are acclimated to the heat temperature zone.<\/p>\n

When we run in the heat, our \u201crate of perceived exertion\u201d feels higher than at normal temperatures.<\/p>\n

What is Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)?<\/h4>\n

Our internal pace, the pace that we feel we can sustain while running at various levels, is what we perceive to be a given effort during our runs. For example, if you are a runner that generally runs a 5K distance at an 8:00min mile pace, and that feels \u201ccomfortable\u201d for you, one would say that your RPE for that pace is at a level 6 on a scale of 1-10. However, add the element of heat into the mix, and running at that pace will now feel like an effort level of 7 or 8. Why is this? Our pace for performance becomes affected by the heat at a rate of 7-10% degradation once we reach a temperature of 75 degrees or higher.<\/p>\n

Our metabolic response to running in the heat is as follows:<\/p>\n