moved to very hot country

[Deleted User]

I moved to Botswana in October, and have found the heat really difficult to cope with. I was running up to half marathon last year this time - on hamstead heath. Now, have ended up doing treadmill in air con gym - the catch being I hate gyms and can only do 20mins at a time. Any advice about running in very hot weather. We're moving in to winter here, so the plan is to start running again gently and get fitter before the heat starts in October, but I really would like to continue year round if possible. Any advice?
For info, it was up to 45degrees in january, and was 36 at lunch time today.

[Deleted User]

Rachel, I have done quite a bit of summer running in S. Africa and S. France and found that if I went at sun rise it was o.k. As usual start slowly with say 30 mins and then build up by 5 mins a week till you reach 60 mins. Then you can start to increase your speed or go longer. Its also vital that you hydrate well, especially once you get past 45 minutes or so. In time you will adjust to the heat and won't find it a problem.

Good luck with your running.

[Deleted User]

I second what CM and PB said there. I was in Tokyo last August and did most of my runs early in the morning (not a problem for me since that's when I run here too).

That was OK except for that one time when I got lost! A one-hour run became a 2-hour run, and I was therefore still out running when the sun started 'bombing' down! And I had no water with me (again a habit), ... well you can imagine the rest ...

Desert Man

I lived in Kuwait for several years ... it reached 50 C in Summer, and we had 2 -3 months a year above 45 C.

The trick to running in this heat I find is to avoid the sun, and be very, very careful when the weather is humid. Early morning, or evening / just after dark worked great.

There are charts on temperature vs humidity which are worth finding to make sure you are not trying to exercise in extreme (unsafe) conditions. With the low humidity in Kuwait, we found no problem up to 45 C after dark ... above that and it became a lot harder. Loads of water is key, before during & after (like 1 litre during a 10k, with the same again afterwards).

The other piece is to train into it gradually. Your body does adjust - paradoxically by sweating more, but with more dilute sweat. Or so the articles I have read say !!

Happy (hot) running !