Tips To Handle Summer Heat Workouts
MADISON- Madison is in the mid-south, which means plenty of hot weather conditions throughout the summer months. But don’t let that fact scare you away from continuing physical workouts, especially runners. It’s not OK to stop working out. It is OK to take precautions.
Fleet Feet of Madison/Huntsville has professional advice for those who wipe their brow, drink liquids and hit the road for continuous running workouts throughout the sultry summer in North Alabama. The experts at Fleet Feet remind runners to warm up properly, even on a hot day and cool down afterward. Each runner should listen to their own bodies and adjust the intensity of the workout as needed. Have fun.
Intervals: Run faster-paced intervals (e.g., 400 meters or 800 meters) followed by a recovery jog. Repeat this cycle several times. Intervals help boost your anaerobic capacity and overall speed. Tempo Runs: Maintain a comfortably hard pace (around your goal half marathon pace) for an extended distance (e.g., 3-5 miles). Tempo runs improve your lactate threshold and race-specific fitness1. Progressive Runs: starting slow and increasing pace 10 seconds or so every mile. Hard to do sometime especially if there is wind or hills. Fartlek Runs: These are unstructured speed workouts where you mix fast segments with slower recovery segments. Vary your pace based on how you feel during the run. Hill Repeats: Find a hill and sprint up the incline, then jog or walk back down for recovery. Repeat this process. Hill repeats build strength and power in your legs. There are many good locations in and around Madison to hit hills.
Recovery is an important part of training. The first step to recovering from a workout is your cool down. A good example would be a one mile cool down. After your cool down you want to do you static stretching and start rehydrating your body.
Other things you can do to help your body recovery from hard training.
Cold Therapy or Cyrotherapy. This could be the Cryo Chamber or Cold Plunge. Both are fantastic. PEMF is Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy. The PEMF Therapy process begins with a personalized consultation to understand your specific health concerns and wellness goals. From there, you’ll relax in a comfortable setting while our specialized PEMF equipment goes to work. Each session typically lasts between 30 minutes to an hour, during which time you may feel a gentle, pulsing sensation as the electromagnetic fields penetrate your body, targeting areas of concern.
If you’re interested in joining others for speed work and long runs this fall, look at joining the Marathon and Half Marathon Programs, which start in September. Fleet Feet will have groups in both Huntsville and Madison. The programs include long run, speedwork and complete program from start to finish. Mentors will be in pace groups to run with each participant.
Fleet Feet coaches are RRCA certified, VDOT certified and Ironman certified.
