Rules for Safe Running in the Heat from Coach Honea

We are just about out of the hottest weather, but it will be summer again sometime, and a lot of heat problems actually occur at other times of year when people are not paying as much attention.

• Drink every chance you get during the school day. Drink before going to practice. Bring your water bottle and drink right before and after your run. Keep drinking after you stop being thirsty after practice. If you don't have basically clear urine at least once a day, then your body is in a constant state of dehydration. Not only does this put you at greater risk for heat problems, it also hurts your running performance and slows your recovery for the next run.

• Remember that it is always 10-15 degrees warmer when we go off the mountain! This means that even when it is cooler in Boone, we may face some significant heat issues at meets even into October. Don't become lazy about staying hydrated everyday, start forgetting your water bottle, or ignoring the rest of these rules just because daily practice becomes cooler.

• Choose the shade when possible during runs, and always during non-running times at practice and especially at meets.

• If you are running on your own (not a practice day) be aware of the weather and plan to run during a cooler part of the day if it is supposed to hot. (This may mean waking up earlier, especially if you are at the beach on vacation.) If the temperature is above 90, postpone your run. If it is above 85 consider a shorter run, or a run with short loops and frequent water breaks. Lower these threshold temperatures by five degrees if you aren't used to the heat (early spring for everyone, anytime of year if you haven't been exercising outdoors.

• SLEEP! There is nothing that more good runners at every level fall short on than getting enough sleep. The average teenager needs nine hours of sleep a night. Participating in heavy physical activity raises that amount, but a lot of people don't even come close. Ideally every person on the team would sleep from 10:00pm to 7:00am every night. If you can't finish your homework, it is much better to go to bed at the same time and set an alarm to get up earlier in the morning to finish, than to stay up past midnight. (The quality of the homework will likely be better as well.) A consistent bedtime, and an early bedtime, are both very valuable. This includes weekends ? your body has no idea what day of the week it is, and gets thrown out of whack if you shift your clock by several hours every few days.

• Follow the rules for hydration listed above. At least half of this should be water, but Gatorade or something similar can be really good right after practice (see below), and at least two glasses of milk a day are also good for most people. The heat danger goes away for part of the year, but dehydration is a significant problem year-round.

• Your muscles will recover much faster from workouts if you get a significant amount of carbohydrate soon after running. (The first half hour is best, and the window is basically closed after two hours.) Things that enter the blood stream quickly, like Gatorade, juice, most fruit, and lower fiber carbs are really good here (and, except for the fruit, not as good the rest of the time). Some protein can help ? chocolate milk actually beat out every kind of exercise drink in a major study. The rest of the time, normal diet recommendations apply ? avoid saturated fats and trans-fats as much as possible, get plenty of low-fat protein, and get the majority of your calories for complex carbohydrates. Any diet plan marketed mainly as a method of weight-loss is NOT a good plan for a teenage athlete.

• SLEEP! (Did I mention that already?) I don't care how late the other kids' moms let them stay up, you need to go to bed.