Cheeky Run Club
Cheeky Run Club is a social running podcast and community - an unofficial meeting place for the everyday runner. Each week we'll dive deep into a topic that keeps amateur runners up at night. Let's rebrand running 🍌
Cheeky Run Club
How to enjoy running in Summer
For as there have been runners, there have been people who cannot stand running in the heat. And for good reason: in this episode we explore why running in the heat/humidity is sooo much harder. BUT what's less rarely talked about is the upside to running in heat, so in this episode we also unpack the physiological adaptations you get from running in the heat, which (SPOILERRRR) are kind of wild. We then get stuck into tips n tricks for thriving in your summer runs + warning signs that things are heating up a little too much.
We then do some race previews and get pumpeddd for ON:TRACK:NIGHTS on the 14th of December (join us!!), and finish with The Run Down segment covering some bloody exciting news in Australian running.
The legends at Pillar Performance have generously setup a discount code for the Cheeky community, use CHEEKY15 at checkout for 15% off your first purchase. Thanks to Pillar for making this episode of Cheeky possible!
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Music produced by Hugh Raper. Logo design by Michael Cotellessa. Podcast edited by Kiara Martin.
Cheeky Run Club recognizes that every day we live, work, and run on Aboriginal land. This
A:This episode is brought to you by Pillow Performance and their brand new collagen repair powder for strengthening tendons and ligaments. Welcome
P:ligaments. Welcome to Cheeky Run Club, the social running podcast and community for your everyday amateur runner. Hello Anna and hello listeners. This
A:This week we are talking about running in the heat. We'll talk through fitness gains it gives you and why it's known as the poor man's altitude training, when it is too hot to run and give you practical strategies to help you enjoy your summer suns. and runs.
P:you enjoy suns and runs. Oh yeah. We'll
A:We'll then go into a rundown segment where we will talk about some pretty exciting news that has happened in the last week and We're also going to preview the upcoming on track nights, Australian 10 K champs, which is going to be held in Melbourne in a week's time. Less than,
P:stand. We'll make some
A:have a bet.
P:a
A:If we were betting people, we would have a bet.
P:Okay, looking
A:we'll have a bet. but first, as always, we'll talk through our best and worst runs of the week. Phoebe, give me your worst.
P:Okay. My worst run is, is it's a bit metal this week. It's, I'm
A:It's,
P:struggling this week to balance, um, oncoming sickness.
DJI_20241205072229_0263_D:I
A:I
P:I don't want to say like arrived sickness. I think I'm still on. I think I could still fight it off.
A:think I can still add it up. Has she coughed into her mic? I think it's arrived, I'm sorry to say.
P:in the, I think I'm, Oh. That is so frustrating.
A:it up. Oh, that
P:No, I'm sure I am really struggling this week to balance
A:to balance
P:a very big week at work
A:work with,
P:with um social commitments and still running especially I'm listening to my body being the important one and I haven't been feeling I haven't been feeling a hundred percent But I haven't been feeling terrible either. And so there's this this weird middle ground that You I'm trying something new where I am was trying to listen to that and and so I didn't run yesterday But then as I was telling you and I run this morning I then I don't i've been having a like a ridiculously bad Big weeks at work and running is so helpful for my stress management. Yeah. And so even though I was like, oh, I'll try and sleep in and not run. I then felt like way more tired all day yesterday.
A:all day yesterday.
P:yeah. Yeah, and I
A:And probably more stressed. I was
P:I also just really struggle to take time off work, like sick leave from
A:Do you think that's something to do with The, you have the ability to work from home. So even if you were to stay home, you feel like you're sort of expected to work.
P:Yeah. I reckon that would be all like you can work. So you kind of and you know that that work has to get done. So I just end up just doing it. But, um, yeah, I think I, as a result of this as well, like this week, like everything else has gone out the window. Like I've done no strength. I haven't done any Pilates. I haven't been doing any activations. I've just sort of been doing the bare minimum and I'm trying to be okay with that. But. It's been a tricky, tricky
A:it's been a tricky, tricky week. Oh my gosh, which has
P:Oh my gosh, which has been an absolute godsend. So my brother's getting married this weekend. Also, by the time this podcast
A:and Erin! I'm really excited,
P:Tom and
A:a new
P:Very exciting. I'll have a new sister, I can't wait. Should be a really fun weekend. But as a result, my mom is staying with me in Melbourne. And on the one hand, I feel really bad because I've been working really long days and I haven't.
A:and I haven't
P:But on the other hand, she's helped out so much. She's made me the nicest like tofu stir fries. So I've had like lunches and dinners and like things that just in these weeks, I really struggled to like make sure I'm getting my meals at the right time. And I ended up eating at weird hours. And that has been so nice to have her here. And even like the end of the day on, I forget which day it was, I had a really hard day and I came home. And mom was there and we just like, went for a walk and like, talked through it all and it was, it was very nice. So thank you mom.
A:So,
P:And
A:mom!
P:all moms. And mom, do you
DJI_20241205072229_0263_D:tell me about your worst run of the week.
P:My worst run
A:My worst run was Tuesday morning. It was,
P:it,
A:I know, actually it shouldn't have been. I'm, I'm very sorry to, our friends, Al and Brett, who I did a lot of spent a lot of
P:on Tuesday morning,
A:on Tuesday morning and I never normally do that part of it was really, really nice. Um, cause I just got to chat to them and I never
P:lovely. Um, anyway,
A:they're so lovely. Um, anyway, but the reason why I think it was so muggy.
DJI_20241205072229_0263_D:and
A:I'm pretty unf I'm, I'm not feeling my fittest,
P:at the moment,
A:may say the opposite at the moment. And so running in general, just going for a jog, I'm finding quite difficult. Um, as in like, it's just like, it's
P:big haul.
A:and just
P:just in
A:And then
P:the week is just
A:it was super muggy as well. And I think when you're sort of your baseline is. You're in Struggle Town a little bit. Any, like, any other factor that comes
P:Yeah, it really
A:it really exacerbates how, and you realize how unfit
P:yeah, it all comes out. I'm obviously gonna talk about heat a lot.
A:Yes.
P:looking at what the humidity was.'cause it was so hu, it felt so humid. But I think in Melbourne, we're just really not conditioned for humidity. 86%. Okay. That's pretty high. Yeah, that's pretty human
A:humid scale.
P:scale. Yeah.
A:Um, what is, what is, not sick.
P:your best
A:is your best run of the
P:is there anything worse than people having to listen to me cough in their ears on a podcast? We'll have to edit, figure out how to edit all of that out. My best run?
A:I would
P:I would say my best run was Tuesday morning. So, we did a session Tuesday morning. Part of me woke up and was like, should I do the session? And then the other part of me was like,
A:good at listening to my body this week. This is a
P:I just, you know, actually this is a hard thing. When you've committed to doing a session with friends.
A:like, then Do it,
P:then it's really hard to pull
A:yep, yep, yep. I
P:I thought I'll just do it and I won't push myself too hard. and I, I had 16 400s with a 75 second recovery, which I was like quite excited about that session. I thought it sounded quite fun. And as I say, I was doing it with a group, so, Sean was going to
A:exciting. And
P:and so that was exciting. And Saj. Yes. Yes. That's
A:Oh, how times can change.
P:Anyway, Friends were jumping in, which was really exciting for me for a track Tuesday. And the session was really fun. So the way that we broke it down, because 16 400s is a lot. We did the first four as, and this was all Sean's input. First four as like, um, warm up into
A:as like, um,
P:Second four, um,
A:forget. Third four was
P:I forget.
A:form. And then fourth
P:Third four was like, focus on your form. And then final four was just like, give it everything you've got. And I just think we nailed the pacing
A:the first, like,
P:it felt really comfortable for the first, like, half. And then it got harder and harder, and by the end it was like, definitely really hard. But it was very satisfying to be like, Whoa, that was like, a lot of reps, but I feel like I paced it
A:Paste it really well. 16 400s. That's a lot to get
P:That's a lot just psychologically and then the other thing is like it was really humid but part of me and we'll talk about like running in heat part of me that really loves like getting really sweaty and like that like feeling like Whoa,
A:is nothing. I think I've said to you, I'm maybe not on the pod, but one of the
P:to go on the
A:Good to go on the record. One of the things that I sometimes find hard going to the track on Tuesday morning and just jogging around is I have such bad FOMO of people working hard and like sweating and just that like
P:Yeah. Like,
A:pushing
P:in it. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I wonder if this is relatable for people
A:Yeah, I know, we'll be like, you are crazy. Um, but there's something, it's so, it's so satisfying. It is. And you just don't, jogging with friends is the best. And at the end of the day, that's kind of all you really want to do. But if you can be picky, it
P:yeah, it's quite
A:nice to feel like you're working hard. Tell
P:Um, tell me about your best run.
A:My best run was talking about working hard. Um, went to Hurt Locker yesterday, which is a like high intensity gym class. And yeah, so that's sort of the only time I'm getting my heart rate pretty high. And boy, did I get a tie. It was so fun. But we had a, there was eight of us or something there. It was crazy. Your brother
P:Yeah. How did he
A:Oh my gosh, he's so strong. I was just watching him walk around the gym and I was like, whoa, you are a beast.
P:Whoa. You
A:no, it was, it was really fun. Then we all went for coffee after. one of our girlfriends, shout out as well to a friend of the pod, Molly, who is our Nike expert. She's been on Talking About Sports For Us before. She's getting married this weekend, so she even came for coffee because she's on holidays.
P:by the time this comes out, congrats to
A:Congrats to Molly and
P:this has been a painful episode
A:Yeah.
P:don't know our friendship group.
A:Can you tell we're tired?
P:tight? No, we
A:No, we are bringing the heat.
P:The heat. So mum's
A:Oh, literally bringing the heat.
P:mum's suggestion for naming this episode was, um, Hot Mess. Yeah. Yeah.
A:I think, I quite like that because that is quite often us. That's how it is. And that is this episode.
P:we may
A:guys say to us? I don't know, you guys be the judge.
P:we, can we label ourselves that?
A:Or are we just mess?
P:mess? Yeah. Are
A:Are we hot messes or just messes?
DJI_20241205072229_0263_D:sweaty messes.
P:So we'll talk about three different things today in relation to running in the heat. The first one is, why is it actually so hard to run in the heat? And what are the benefits of doing it? Then we'll go through some tips and tricks to enjoy your summer runs. And we'll finish with how to know when it's too hot. How hot is too hot?
A:Too hot to handle. Um, okay, so, Why is it so hard to run in the heat? That's, honestly, is the question
P:everyone has been feeling it. Like, how many people have said to us this week, well not said to us specifically, but like said in runs and stuff like, oh my
A:Gosh, it's hot, yeah.
P:feeling so hard.
A:back to Tuesday for the third time this episode, after our coffee, I remember people speaking about how hard they found their sessions because it was so hot. And I was speaking to another girlfriend, and she was saying that literally at, at the exact same time each year, she messages her coach
P:then he
A:saying, I think I'm really
P:no it's
A:And it always, and then he sort of responds back saying, No, it's because it's getting hotter. Like, wait a couple weeks and then you'll be fine again. But it's, yeah, it's a universal struggle.
P:It is, it is, especially in Victoria when you do get cold weather for a lot of the year and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere almost,
A:I don't know, though,
P:feels quite warm.
A:warm. Yeah. So, um, it is more effort for your body. So, your body sends more blood to your skin and away from your muscles, which increases your heart rate, meaning that like a slower pace.
DJI_20241205072229_0263_D:um,
A:will feel harder because you're actually working harder to attain that pace.
P:Yeah, and that, I feel like that's an interesting, now that we monitor our heart rate, that's quite good to know that heat can actually be one of the things. It can simply be It's hotter today. Like, it's not as simple as you're tired, you're sick, whatever, you're, but the net thing of your body's working harder, so you should still pay attention to it.
A:So respect it. Respect
P:it. Um, one of the other reasons why it's so hard to run in the heat. Actually a lot of it comes down to dehydration. So you have to sweat a lot to try and cool yourself down because obviously it's hot and so that can make you dehydrated. Dehydration can lead to thicker blood which requires more energy to pump. and just in general, when you exercise, your muscles aren't very efficient. already right aside.
A:as heat. So you're actually
P:this morning my muscles are not efficient. When you exercise, 80 percent of the energy generated ends up as heat, so you're actually heating up a lot anyway when you run, and your body's trying to get rid of that heat. The whole game is trying to get rid of the heat. And so when it's already really hot, that actually exacerbates something that already makes running really challenging.
A:makes running really challenging. It is, like, overtime. And to bring humidity into the discussion, because
P:It is working over time and to bring humidity into the discussion because we're talking a lot about heat but actually humidity is a big part of this as well. Um, it plays just as a bigger role as heat does and humidity basically makes it harder because sweat, the more humid it is, I actually didn't know this, the more, it makes sense though, sweat evaporates more slowly the more humid it is. So at 100 percent humidity sweat cannot evaporate at all.
A:So much moisture in the air already.
P:There's so much moisture in the air. And so, so that alone,
A:function of sweating
P:the whole function of sweating is to cool down your body. And it's not able to do that because, it's the evaporation of the sweat, that helps it cool
A:helps it that definitely checks out just in terms of actually trying it for yourself. Like when it is so humid, like it was on Tuesday, it, it just feels not insufferable, but it feels like you can't escape it. Whereas when it's. Dry heat. It even means that if there's like a bit of a headwind because you are sweating, you feel like it's cooling you down, whereas the hum humidity, you kind of feel a bit trapped in a
P:bit trapped. Yes, I completely agree. Also, yeah, it makes me think about, everyone has different amounts that they sweat. And we have, um, said on air before about how you don't sweat very much. I wonder if, like, Well,
A:well, I remember, um, reading about like just. generally the more people sweat the sort of fit you
P:you are. Yeah, the more efficiently you're, like, If you start to Yeah, exactly. If you start sweating straight away as soon as you start exercising, that's like your body is really efficiently. Yeah, I'm just
A:i'm just
P:efficient. But you're, no, because you are a fittest
A:talking about your muscle
P:muscle inefficiency. Yeah, yeah, but I wonder how your body cools itself down. Yeah, well actually,
A:Maybe maybe i'm actually genuinely just not actually that efficient because i really struggle in the hate
P:the heat.
A:Yeah, and I have my whole life, even when I was younger, doing triathlon races and running races in the
P:You felt like it would
A:really struggle. Yeah. More. Yeah. You know how some people sort of a, like, just better in some conditions than others. Like I, yeah, I am way down whenever it's warm and way prefer it to be freezing
P:Oh, that's quite interesting. Yeah.
A:which is sort of self explanatory really, but when you can't afford or just like don't have access to altitude and people often say that, Running in the heat can, improve your performance in similar ways to what altitude can, but you don't obviously need to be up in the clouds. so it can result in a lot of physical adaptations. one, improved sweating. So Your body will sweat more and earlier, and the salt concentration in your sweat will change, leading to your core body temperature, being lowered at a faster rate.
P:Yeah, you become more, like, efficient with your electrolyte
A:electrolyte use. Yeah,
P:another benefit is increased blood flow. It's quite interesting, but your skin blood flow will improve in order to try and, open up your cells to, release the heat, essentially. and your heart will pump more blood to deliver that oxygen to your muscles.
A:so you'll, it will lead to an enhanced cardiovascular endurance, which will improve over time training in the heat in comparison to not training in the heat,
P:there's also a lot of research to say it increases your blood volume
A:increases your blood
P:it increases your blood volume because it increases the amount of plasma in your blood and That's a good thing.
A:Yeah,
P:Don't ask me
A:that, my friend, is a good
P:One day. Okay. Here is our promise to you listeners. One day we'll get a doctor or some similar on the podcast to truly scientifically
A:to talk a lot about
P:this. And we're going to talk a lot about hydration. Well, we're going to talk a bit about hydration today as well, but we need to do another episode on hydration with an expert because it is so interesting and clearly So important some of these things is just like you start digging and then you're like, whoa, there is so
A:like you open up a can of worms. It's like as soon as you, it's, it's like the more you know, the more you realize you don't
P:Yes, yeah
A:but yes, hydration is a huge one. I would love to get, someone on
P:Yeah, if anyone out there is a hydration expert I reckon next year we'll jump in with the episode on that but I feel like heat just makes your body more, have it to be more efficient at everything in the same way that to come back to altitude because there's less oxygen, your body has to be more efficient at using smaller amounts of oxygen. It's the same with heat, your body just gets more efficient at cooling yourself down and everything that's involved with that. And as we said earlier on, a lot of the energy and running is just trying to cool yourself
A:trying to cool yourself down.
P:so it kind of makes sense that if you get more efficient at cooling yourself down, then. that's going to be, have like amazing benefits for your fitness. and it is quite interesting because I, I think, elite runners think about this a lot more strategically, like heat training
A:don't really
P:I don't really know any amateur runners who are like excited to run in
A:I think
P:good for their fitness. But I do think there's a really, like, even for me learning about this stuff, there's been some good reframes in my mind of being like, oh, okay, getting to the heat. Like, of course, this is why it's going to feel harder, but How good?
A:like, of course this is why it's going to feel harder, but, I'm good, it's going to be fine. purely just seeing it as like a negative like oh it's going to be hard i can't be bothered being like oh this is actually going to be beneficial to my like running training and my overall
P:Think how fit we're going to be after.
A:because a lot of as you're saying like a lot of professionals do heat training pre their marathons, like
P:As a
A:their marathon blocks. Yeah. I remember my old coach, she was doing a big marathon in April or something and she was doing a lot of heat training, I think doing her easy runs in the heat. So she wouldn't do her sessions in the heat. just because she obviously One of the quality because you do have to as we're saying like you might have to run slower, so She'd still want to be hearing the paces and getting as much out of the sessions that she could, but for the easy runs to enhance those adaptations, she would go into the heat
P:the heat chamber. Yeah, use it, yeah that makes sense. I think one of my other takeaways from learning about the, like the very real impact that heat has on your body when you're running, is to come back to our discussion of load and your body not being able to differentiate different parts ways that load can like, he clearly adds a load, um, and add strain. And it has actually made me think like over the next couple of weeks as I'm adjusting, can I, should I be pulling back a little bit on my intensity or certainly not building anywhere and especially when, as we've discussed, like this is such a busy time of year, December, everyone's feeling pretty exhausted and,
A:a good time
P:overworked, et cetera. Like, I think it's, it's a good time to step back and be like, okay, maybe. I need to be really considerate of the added load this is bringing to my week. Yeah, Let's give some tips and tricks. Yes, How to honestly
A:how to honestly love your summer runs, which you should be doing.
P:should be. It should be the best time of year to run. It's fun. It's not cold, obviously. You can swim. It should be the nicest time of year to run. Yeah. Yeah. But
A:but we can appreciate that sometimes it is hard, especially I, even remember doing a 5k race earlier this year in the
P:And it was so hot. Yeah.
A:was so hot.
DJI_20241205072229_0263_D:or something, it was so hot.
P:I
A:I was just thinking this is not it. Anyway.
P:Anyway. But, and also, I acknowledge that we're probably doing this episode like four months late for some people in some parts of Australia. Yeah. We're like just getting to it now. Yeah. But.
A:to them, we
P:apologise. Everyone else, yes, has done the hard yards. So, tip number one is.
A:Acclimatise!
DJI_20241205072229_0263_D:Acclimatise.
P:take
A:So, it can take up to 10 14 days to acclimatise to the heat. so I guess this is really good to know in terms of if you're going to a race somewhere that is hotter than wherever you're living. but also as well, just in terms of training, as I was saying before, one of our friends, speaks to her coach at the same time each year saying that she thinks she's pretty unfit, but I think it's really good to be kind to yourself and give yourself a couple of weeks to let your body adapt and get used to the heat. and then minimise or like do a little bit less, load or intensity just to make sure that your body is adapting,
P:sure. Yeah. And when, when we say adapting, like we literally mean all those adaptations that we just spoke about, your body getting more efficient. Like it's not just that you'll, you'll start to like get used to the heat mentally, which is a big part of it. but it's actually your body's gonna get much more efficient at handling it. So after a couple of weeks,'cause it can actually take up to 14 days even then. you'll just start noticing your body is not as affected by the heat. So just give yourself a little bit of time to build up to that.
A:Yep. number two?
P:Number two is, that aside, even when you are acclimatized, you're going to need to go, it's likely that you'll need to go a little bit slower to maintain the same effort in the heat. And it's good to almost be aware of that in your mind and plan for that. So you're not like thinking that you need to be hitting the same paces. because it, it is always going to be more effort in the heat, even though your body gets somewhat more efficient at it,
A:going to be
P:your heart rate's going to be higher. You're going to need to be working harder. So actively pull back your paces in, in sessions, in long runs, in easy runs, or not even pace, pull back your effort, just like slightly pull back so that your effort still feels easy. Cause if you're trying to maintain the same paces, it's just going to feel a lot harder.
A:Yeah, and I guess the goal of something like an easy run, the goal at the end of it is to get the time on legs, but also recover from the session that you have been doing. and that will just mean that you will have to go slower in order to have like the same level of effort and that's okay. So I think almost like flagging it. pre
P:of it,
A:being aware of it. I feel like then during the run makes it easier to be like, Oh, okay. You know what? I actually, in order to let my body recover, I actually need to go slower.
P:go slower. Yeah, and almost having that self compassion to be like, It's
A:Yeah, you're hot.
P:Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
A:so, uh, what is seemingly obvious tip, is to keep on top of your hydration, but it's actually a bit more complicated than just drinking
P:drinking
A:So the reason why being hydrated is is important, is it regulates the body temperature and prevents heat related illnesses. because being hydrated is actually what helps your body produce sweat, which ends up cooling you down. in regards to sweating, it can quickly deplete your water stores.
P:So yeah, a couple of impacts of being dehydrated. When you are dehydrated, your body actually stores more heat because it can't sweat as much, which makes it harder to tolerate those hot temperatures. And on the other side of that, the flip side of that is actually when you're hydrated, we see better performances. So your body functions a lot better, especially during exercise when you are hydrated. That all makes sense. I think everyone understands intuitively we need to be hydrated. What is tricky is actually understanding how you stay hydrated.
A:Mm. Yeah, a lot of people just think drink water, but it's actually, electrolytes as well as water. So electrolytes are minerals like sodium, potassium chloride that are necessarily for cellular metabolism and in order to keep producing the sweat. So when you do sweat a lot, you need. all of these minerals to help replace whatever you're
P:minerals to help replace whatever you're losing. A ridiculous amount of water. I had this massive like two liter water bottle That I was just constantly emptying at my desk and I couldn't I was so Headachy, I was so and then someone just said like oh, you're you're actually just um, Basically, like you don't have any salt in your
A:like, Yeah, you don't have any minerals,
P:all the minerals and you actually like you're not hydrating yourself The salt and those things are what help you like maintain and absorb that water Otherwise, it just goes straight through you which is true. That's exactly what was happening. Um,
A:Yeah. So it's also, I guess like the, the common electrolyte drink that everyone probably knows is like
P:like Gatorade Yeah,
A:that kind of thing. which are, I mean, they are really good, but, other brands like sport, more so sports brands or like something like Hydrolyte or like Hyro, like
P:Hyro,
A:the Christmas list. Those in comparison to Gatorade, they actually have at least four times the electrolytes of the traditional sports drink. they also contain additional elements lost through sweat such as magnesium, calcium, zinc, iron, manganese, and copper, which I found so interesting because I just, I mean, I love HydroLite and Hyro, but I quite often like, Oh, I'll get a Gatorade
P:Yeah, they're just there and they're cold. But actually, yeah, Gatorade does not tick a lot of these boxes. Obviously, it's just convenient and so it's probably better than nothing. But I think if you can, while you're thinking about planning for over summer, try and stock up on something like a Hyro, which are actually going to be way better You know i read somewhere that gatorade the gatorade recipe was made in like the 60s or something and it has never changed. It's just been the same. Obviously they've got like sugar free ones or whatever but then, yeah. It's still, yeah. It actually hasn't kept up with research. No. But I think, another thing to be aware of is, a lot of people who, even if you're not running heaps over summer, if you are like, drinking coffee, like there's a lot of habits that we now have in our daily life. that mean, that humans do these days, that actually mean that we get dehydrated. And there's statistics, some alarming statistics, about something like 90 percent of Australian adults are dehydrated or something. Because everyone just thinks they can drink water, but actually because we do all these things that dehydrate ourselves, like drinking coffee, we actually need to be replenishing those other things as well.
A:like drinking coke, we actually need to be replenishing ourselves.
P:been sweating more, or I've had
A:Or without too many
P:at the
A:the end of the day, I still feel a bit fuzzy. And it doesn't matter how much water you drink.
P:water you drink,
A:you still just like, don't, it's actually diluting the electrolytes more in your body. Almost like,
P:like if, if any, there's one thing to take away from this episode, I mean, there's hopefully lots of takeaways, but have a think about how are you hydrating and are you dehydrated? And what, especially as I say, drink coffee, alcohol, massive
A:massive amount.
P:about how over summer you can be proactively replenishing those things rather than just.
A:feeling like slow.
P:Feeling like, like if you're dehydrated, like getting off track, but that impacts your cognitive ability. It impacts so much.
A:Yes. Stay
P:Stay hydrated, folks. Um, couple more tips.
A:A couple more tips. So another big one, which sort of seems obvious, but is make sure you have the right gear. So make sure you're dressing appropriately for the weather. I often find as well, do you have any, what's your favorite, like summer, item of clothing Like, I feel like I have a couple of things that I'm like, if it's a hot day, I'm like, I'm going for that. Even if it's. singlets that look the same. There's some materials I
P:Some materials, I think it's the really, cause over most of winter I'll wear cotton all the time, but over summer I cut that out and I go for like, really thin breathable
A:like, I'll wear a
P:but I tell you what I struggle with. I often default to just like, I'll wear a sports bra if it's really hot, but then you actually get way more sun on you and I don't actually know the trade off between. Like wearing more coverage because it's protecting you from the sun, which actually still helps cool you down, versus just like letting yourself
A:yourself breathe. Yeah, I don't know if you do the same, but sometimes when, if I'm doing a session or something, I'll keep my like top on for as long as possible, and then so it's like, Then on one of the final reps, I like get to take it off. So it's almost like a like treat me like, Oh, so now you can feel a bit cooler going into like the last quarter of your session, um, like little things like that. But yeah, I have the Nike that we actually put it in our Christmas gift guide.
P:This is actually a great hot tip, because one of the things I struggle with in summer is I, I, all my tops get so sweaty and Anna and I have found a top that does not show
A:sweaty and Anna and I have found a top that does not show sweat. It really doesn't heat you up.
P:Yeah, I find it quite good. It does stick on your, oh it doesn't stick on you, but it's fitted, so that isn't always like the most comfortable for heat release. But it is, it only costs 40, they're really good
A:good value. Yeah, they're such good
P:value. They're really good value, and I, and I've never had a shirt that doesn't just like get ridiculous sweat patches before. I don't know how the material does it, but it just absorbs it and moves it
A:Yeah,
P:I think, another thing to be aware of is Think about where you run. So I find that our runs, so I don't know this morning, for example, went out and ran in some trails, in kind of inner Melbourne, but I find running on grass under shade is so much cooler than running in the city on concrete, on roads. Um, they
A:more exposed.
P:more exposed. Um, also trees, um, trees have a ridiculous effect on temperature. They can, trees can reduce temperature by like 10 degrees or something. Yeah. There's
A:realize it was so
P:it's so interesting. Like if you, if you put trees all throughout cities, it would like regulate the temperatures of the city so much better than a lot about like air conditioning units and so on do anyway off track, but yes, run near trees. It's going to be a bit cooler.
A:Lastly, which is probably something I'd normally try to avoid, but plan your run. So you have the headwind on the way home. Just for that extra breeze in your hair. It's actually a really nice relief. Normally I would say absolutely not. I'm definitely running
P:tailwind But headwind is so nice in summer.
A:to cool you down.
P:Okay, final tip I'm going to give. Um, caveat, I've never done this before, but I think it's good. So I'm just going to put it out there. Salt tablets.
A:them? Gary,
P:Have you had them? No, I haven't. Gary, my coach, swears
A:I guess it's
P:and I guess it's like a more efficient way of having a sports drink in some way is the idea. They're meant to be amazing for like cramps, like anything like that. so again, we haven't tried them, but if anyone knows about salt tablets, if anyone is a fan of them, has used them before, let us know. I'd love to hear more about
A:hear more about them.
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A:Thanks so much to Pillar for bringing this episode of Cheeky to life. alright. Let's chat about how to know when it is
P:hot. How hot is too hot? We have seen a lot of our friends have had, oh not a lot of our friends, but we've had friends really severely, dangerously impacted by
A:heat. Yeah, I mean I, in a triathlon I've ended up on oxygen. Yeah,
P:Really? From
A:Yeah, yeah. It was at 40 degrees, but
P:Oh my gosh, I also remember, um
A:also remember,
P:World cross country last year, which was in Bathurst. So a group of us went and watched and it would have been, yeah, I forget how it was 40 something
A:it was something ridiculous.
P:was ridiculously hot. And, my cousin mentioned previously, Claudia maker, he's racing this weekend. Um, she was in world cross country and she, along with a lot of people, she basically passed out mid run. She's pretty terrifying to see, and everyone was just like going down. So I think as much as we talk about there are fitness benefits to it, that is actually to be taken really seriously, that there are some true dangers to running in the heat.
A:So number one, heat exhaustion, the cause is the dehydration leads to the electrolyte imbalance. Your core body temperature will then increase, leading to fatigue, headache, profuse sweating, clammy skin or nausea. The way to treat this is to, rest. Firstly and try to cool your body temperature back down. So apply a cold pack on your head or neck. also restore the salt balance with drinks and foods that are high in so sodium, so get those electrolyte drinks in.
P:Another thing to be aware of with heat exhaustion. you can get heat cramps. So this is basically like severe, like abdominal or large muscle cramps. but that can also be a sign that you are
A:Um,
P:Another really interesting possible side effect of all this, running in heat is hyponatremia.
DJI_20241205072229_0263_D:Mm.
P:What is that, Anna?
A:So, it is an excessive water intake, which dilutes the blood sodium levels. So, that means that when you're having heaps and heaps of water., But you're not getting the electrolytes in. So it usually occurs after running for an extreme amount of time, but also it can occur when just in day to day life, if you're like prepping for an event and you are trying to get hydrated, but you're only drinking water or trying to recover from a session. so symptoms are a headache, Disorientating and muscle twitching. It can actually be, really quite dangerous. So
P:point
A:drinking something like Hydrolyte or like having those salt tablets if you prefer to eat them, like you were saying,
P:yeah, or just even like sports drink every now
A:sports drink every
P:large majority of people, they obviously won't, won't be severely impacted by this. Meals,
A:really good. Um, finally there's heat stroke, which is kind of the
P:Yeah, that's probably
A:of all
P:finally, there's heat stroke, which is the most severe of all of these heat related illnesses. Dude. it's caused by extreme exertion and dehydration. And essentially, your body loses its ability to maintain its optimal temperature that it needs to, you know, carry out a lot of its bodily functions. So, basically, what this looks like is, your core body temperature rises, becomes really high. You see headaches, nausea, vomiting, your pulse, your heart rate really increases. You can become disoriented. and this is super serious. I mean, this you, you would normally see like during,
A:see, like,
P:races or something, but like, again, very important to be aware of if you're doing a session or a long, hard run. and essentially you just want to immediately, you want to cool your core temperature down. So generally you want like ice packs, water immersions. If it's very serious, they get IV fluids. But yes, that one is also pretty scary.
A:Yeah, very scary. the main takeaway I think with running in the heat, is that it can be really beneficial if you use it
P:But you
A:but you do have to be careful in performance wise, but also just generalized health.
P:So,
A:Be educated.
P:Stay hydrated, stay cool, enjoy your summer runs. Enjoy
A:them. I love them. And also finish at the beach, if you
P:at the beach if
A:That should
P:Yes, that should
A:after. Honestly, I don't think there's many better feelings in the world than jumping in the
P:the world than jumping in the water.
081224_175434_Tr2:Yes,
081224_175434_Tr1:Let's talk about on track nights coming up this Saturday, the 14th of December at Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne. It's the Australian 10K Champs. So often known, um, I think. The proper name is
081224_175434_Tr2:name is Zadapack? Zadapack,
081224_175434_Tr1:Um, and then there's also a bunch of other races including a star studded 3Ks. Um, Pheebs,
081224_175434_Tr2:thanks. Who
081224_175434_Tr1:who is running in the 3K and who have you got your eye on?
081224_175434_Tr2:three K will be such an exciting race. I know, especially for the women's. There's actually two Olympians running. So obviously Abby Caldwell, who she met up to the semis for the 800 meters. Yep. Extremely exciting runner. And Lynden Hall, one of our best ever 1500 meter runners. Um, they're both. Just unbelievably talented and so it's going to be super exciting watching them go head to head. but there's also a bit of an underdog who we're quite excited to
081224_175434_Tr1:Yeah, fresh. Actually overnight. Amy Bun, who's 19, is currently over in the US at Stanford Uni and has run an Australian indoor record for the five kilometers, running 15 flats.
081224_175434_Tr2:she's
081224_175434_Tr1:So I reckon she's gonna be feeling pretty confident coming into this weekend. The only thing is, she obviously has to get from the US to Australia. Yeah. Hopefully she's already on a
081224_175434_Tr2:So who,
081224_175434_Tr1:will be
081224_175434_Tr2:got to pick a winner. Who is it?
081224_175434_Tr1:came fourth at the cross
081224_175434_Tr2:you
081224_175434_Tr1:cross country. I'm going to say Annie. Yeah, well, I
081224_175434_Tr2:well, I think Cam Myers, so Cam, people may or may not recall, he just missed out on going to the Olympics, he is unbelievably fast, over 1500 meters, so we'll see how he goes over the 3K
081224_175434_Tr1:Yeah, and then there's also Matt Hussey, who I think if it is a slow race, he probably has the best kick.
081224_175434_Tr2:Mmm, we shall see then.
081224_175434_Tr1:And now for the main event.
081224_175434_Tr2:The 10k. All right, maybe let's go through men's quickly and then let's talk about the women's because that's gonna
081224_175434_Tr1:talk
081224_175434_Tr2:just tick that box. So, uh,
081224_175434_Tr1:So, uh, Jack Rayner, who has recently won the Melbourne Mara, and I think he's also the men's road 10k record holder.
081224_175434_Tr2:I also think he's won the last like three Zadapaks or something
081224_175434_Tr1:or something. Yeah. Yep. Um, so I think
081224_175434_Tr2:loves the Zadapak. He loves the Zadapak.
081224_175434_Tr1:Otherwise there's also Matt Buckle, who's just won the Victorian state five K champs but I think it's probably Jack Reiner. the Women's 10th
081224_175434_Tr2:now. Okay, the women's 10k is going to be such an exciting race. So in terms of who, we should be looking out for, who's on your list, Emma?
081224_175434_Tr1:Is Lauren Ryan, who, uh, raced in the 10 Ks for us in Paris Olympics and was really well, you might've actually seen in the first half of the race, she was right towards the front. So she's not afraid to take it out.
081224_175434_Tr2:She ran so well at the Olympics. And I don't know that she's had a huge amount of time off. I mean, I don't know, obviously, but on her Instagram, she always
081224_175434_Tr1:She, she always seems to be running in
081224_175434_Tr2:then there's also
081224_175434_Tr1:Um, and then there's also Rose Davies, who is the Australian 5K record holder, who made it into the final at the Olympics in the 5K. you can never discount her, but From her Instagram, it
081224_175434_Tr2:she enjoyed
081224_175434_Tr1:looks like she enjoyed a little bit of a break. Yeah. Yeah. my favorite for the night is actually Leanne Pompiani, who won the Melbourne half marathon
081224_175434_Tr2:a sprint
081224_175434_Tr1:in a sprint finish. And I think I also, she's top of my list. Cause she's a bit of an underdog. She didn't make it to the Olympics and she's had a bit of a rough trot with injury. And I would really love to see her clean top spot.
081224_175434_Tr2:She's won it before, hasn't she?
081224_175434_Tr1:well that will
081224_175434_Tr2:maybe. Yeah, that will be a really exciting race. I reckon if it's slow, Rose will win and kick past.
081224_175434_Tr1:will
081224_175434_Tr2:But I'm hoping Leanne will take it out
081224_175434_Tr1:I'm hoping
081224_175434_Tr2:it'll come down between her and
081224_175434_Tr1:it out fast.
081224_175434_Tr2:But I actually can't wait. And I think if you're listening, And hopefully some of these names are familiar because, of our Olympic series. But if not, like, don't stress if this, me last year would not have known a single one of these people. And then I went to this event last year and that's kind of when I started getting a feel for like, who are these
081224_175434_Tr1:yeah, yeah. And there were,
081224_175434_Tr2:yeah. And there were, as Anna said, there are races basically all afternoon, heaps of different exciting races to get around different distances. Some shorter, I think it's 800 meters.
081224_175434_Tr1:800 right up until the 10k. There's also going to be food and drinks. Yes. There'll be someone to do your hair, if you're into that.
081224_175434_Tr2:I might get my hair done. Yeah, I don't know what they do, but.
081224_175434_Tr1:There's also a tattoo artist, what about that?
081224_175434_Tr2:We'll see.
081224_175434_Tr1:A little cheeky banana?
081224_175434_Tr2:Imagine.
081224_175434_Tr1:That would actually, that would be good for our socials.
081224_175434_Tr2:think, yeah, and nothing
081224_175434_Tr1:Not so good for my dad.
081224_175434_Tr2:Um, but yeah, please do come along, we've got tickets in our bio. They'll also be in the show notes. It's 25. Oh, we didn't mention Jungle Giants are
081224_175434_Tr1:Oh yeah.
081224_175434_Tr2:Cosmo's Midnight. It's going to be such a fun afternoon. The weather's looking
081224_175434_Tr1:weather's
081224_175434_Tr2:So come hang out with us and get around it.
081224_175434_Tr1:hang out with us and
081224_175434_Tr2:you.
081224_175434_Tr1:around
P:The Rundown episode this week, we, it's in some pretty massive news in the Australian running world. Huge, Huge, if true. Anna, do you want to talk us through what happened at the Nabi last weekend when this episode comes out?
A:Yeah. So last Sunday, the Valencia marathon was held in Valencia surprise.
P:professionals go
A:we had two Australian professionals go over. We had Izzy Batt Doyle, who you might remember, we spoke about her quite a lot. she was a big contender for the women's Olympic marathon team. Missed out, but made it in the Olympics.
DJI_20241205072229_0263_D:for
P:the 5k.
A:She's now gone back to the marathon. And she has done a PB by over 30 seconds.
P:And
A:She has become the third quickest ever Australian female marathon runner in just her fifth marathon. So she has broken 2. 23 coming in at 2. 22.
P:59. She is an absolute weapon.
A:Yeah Secondly, Andy Buchanan, who a lot of people might actually not know. I feel like he's not a super, well, pre last weekend. He wasn't super well
P:spoken about him on the podcast
A:no, probably not. He, Ran the Valencia marathon. Ran over a two minute PB and is the new Australian record holder. Broke the Australian record by over 70 seconds. Yeah. A bit of a backstory about him. He's 33. He's from Bendigo. He's a teacher, and he also has a running store called Verve in Bendigo for anyone that is living around there. And also is a running coach. So he has a lot of strings to his bow. I feel like he's a bit of a, like boy next door story in the sense that he didn't really, He was never on like junior world championship teams he does the cross country that I've spoken about before on the podcast, like the Victorian cross country series every year for Bendigo. Um, he's just been plugging away. for a decade and he has come out in Valencia and just run so well, and it's really cool. I know that we often, obviously he's like on a whole nother level, um, but I know we often speak about like how we are trying to balance running with all these other things and I think he seems a lot more relatable because he's also doing the same. He's not just all in, like he's not a runner in the sense that that's all he does. It's just like part of, what he does for a
P:living. Wow.
A:So to get a glimpse of how fast he was going. So he averaged, 259 pace or three minute pace.
P:on. That
A:which is insane. I can't even think about doing one kilometer at that pace,
P:I, I cannot
A:but
P:It's, it's like you can't wrap your head
A:Oh my gosh. Yeah. All right, I think that's it for today's episode.
DJI_20241205072229_0263_D:I think
P:that's it. Thanks
A:for having me.
DJI_20241205072229_0263_D:Thank you
P:for having me. And hopefully, yeah, really hope that listening you got something out of this and it helps you enjoy your runs over the next couple of months. Stay safe out there. Stay hydrated.
A:Stay hydrated. Main takeaway, stay hydrated. So, the Spotify Wrapped has just come out for the year, and if cheeky features in any of your videos. Hi
P:my gosh.
A:Yes, that would honestly make my day.
P:been enjoying. Yes, that would, that would honestly
A:really
P:a great week and we can't wait to be in your ears next Monday. Woo! Should we try and do that again? Like a bit, um,
A:that again? Yeah. That was
P:to do that again? Um, no, no. I was like, I was like, oh, that's like awful. I was like, that's
A:bit? Sorry.