When it is not hot, it is normal to see people going for a run at any time of the day; even at times like 2:00 p.m. or 3:00 p.m. But now that it’s starting to get hotunless you have no other, we do not recommend going for a run in the middle of the day as it can be quite dangerous.
By dangerous we mean that running at times when the heat is strongest and temperatures are higher can cause dehydration, give us sunstroke, etc.
When the heat starts to arrive, the best way to avoid any kind of problem is to go for a run when temperatures are lower and the Sun is lower. That is, at this time it is much better go out in the morning or in the evening.
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What is the best time of day to go running?
really this It is not something that can be categorized in an absolute way. since it will depend on the person. Before entering this part, we must comment on certain characteristics of rest.
Although everyone needs X hours to sleep, not everyone has the same Cardiac rhtymsthat is, not everyone is going to rest the same sleeping the same hours and at the same times.
There are people who sleep little and are fully rested (known as short sleepers). On the other hand, there are people who need a lot of sleep to feel rested (known as long sleepers). Finally, there is the very large percentage of the population that with sleeping seven or eight hours a day is more than enough.
The same goes for schedules. There are people who sleep later and wake up later, they will be fine, but there will be people who need to go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier to be rested.
Therefore, introducing ourselves to the subject, the truth is that when choosing between going for a run in the morning or in the afternoon-evening, You will have to try by trial and error. Try how you feel most comfortable and, above all, if you enjoy running at those times of the day.
Typically, at the population level the best is early in the morning since according to our circadian clock, there is a greater amount of hormones related to the activation of the sympathetic nervous system such as testosterone, cortisol, adrenaline, noradrenaline… causing our performance in the race is much better. But as I mentioned before, it is to test between morning and night because theory is one thing and practice is another.
Sleep problems if we train at night
In principle, if we don’t go running around bedtime, there shouldn’t be any problems. Despite this, it is normal that if we do high-intensity exercise very close to going to sleep we take longer to fall asleep or wake up more tired than usual. Despite this, there are people who do not affect them at all. I personally don’t mind training close to bedtime.
If we train at night, it is preferable to give a space between the end of the race and going to sleep of about two hours to prevent the hormones that activate ourselves we generate an extra stress during sleeping hours.
Something to keep in mind even if they run at that time
The fact of going out to train when the Sun is low and it is not so hot does not mean that we do not have to take care of exercising with all possible precautions. Therefore, being constantly hydrated is essential if we want to go running safely. And not only do we have to hydrate during exercise, but before and after.
It is recommended to drink around 500 ml before running and then when we get home, weigh ourselves and see the amount of weight we have lost and eat that same amount. For example, if before going for a run we weighed 80 kg and now 79.4 kg, we have to drink 600 ml of liquid.
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