How to adapt your training for hot weather

It’s pretty obvious to move your sessions to first thing in the morning, or later in the evening if possible, but it’s not an option for everyone. Even if it is a choice, it’s not one you might want to take if you find that early training doesn’t work well for you or late training leaves you too wired to sleep.

If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with tree lined paths, or some other form of shade I urge you to use it. Plan your routes to take you on as many of these shaded areas as you can if you have to run during the hotter parts of the day. The reduced sun exposure will help keep your body temperature more easily under control and lower your heart rate, meaning you get a better session.

Aside from the hopefully superfluous advice to stay hydrated, taking fluids with you is a good idea. On long runs of a couple of hours (if you’re autumn marathon training for instance), you’ll still want a hydration pack in all likelihood.

If however, you’re not on such long training runs, a bottle is a better idea. Carrying a bottle will throw off your movement though, so I tend to change the way I do effort sessions to minimise this impact.

You won’t be able to avoid intervals all together, so use out and back routes for your efforts. This means you can stash a drink somewhere safe whilst putting in a great session without the biomechanical quirks of carrying a bottle. You get bonus points if you can plan an out and back session using the aforementioned shaded areas.

If somehow none of these are viable options for you, your next best bet is to reduce the intensity of your sessions whilst increasing the overall mileage. Running more frequently, perhaps even twice per day, to get the results you want.

I used to hate training in the summer, but as I’ve become fitter and learned to listen to my body better to know my limits, it’s been far less of an issue in training and racing.