With summer comes hotter temperatures and depending on how hot it is where you live, slower paces when you run. When I first started taking my running seriously I did not respect how heat and humidity can impact performance. Instead of adjusting my paces and expectations I would just try to keep things the same as if the temperature were 50 degrees.

This was not a good idea. Physically, my body never really got easy days because my “easy” pace was too fast for the conditions. It would be the equivalent to trying to keep the same pace when running up a hill as when you run on flat ground. Common sense tells you that it takes more energy to run up a hill and thus your pace will be slower. The same principle is true for heat, it takes more energy to run in heat compared to cooler temperatures. The reasons it takes more energy to run up a hill or in the heat might differ, but the point is, your pace will be slower if you keep the effort level the same.

Mentally, it is discouraging to run slower and have races where you are disappointed with the performance. You start questioning yourself, which can lead to you training even harder when you really need to take it easier. It is a bad path to go down, it can feed on itself.

Now, I understand I have to accept that things slow down in the heat and embrace it. Your body will slowly adapt, although I am not sure it will ever adapt to 100%, but it does become easier (studies show it takes 2-3 weeks to adapt). I think about what are positives that can come out of this training season. For me, I think it helps our bodies become more efficient at cooling ourselves down and also enables us to perform better when we begin to overheat when we race in the Fall.

I always looks forward to that first cool morning that is in the high 40s with little humidity. I look at my watch and see my splits are significantly faster despite the fact that my effort seems easier. It is at those times that I know, running in a controlled manner during the summer can pay dividends.