If you are a runner, maybe the summer months, when temperatures rise, take a break : as we said earlier, summer can be an ideal time to work hard and prepare legs for winter races , instead of continuing adding kilometers.

Or maybe you’re one of those runners who are able to keep running even when the thermometers are through the roof. If you are of this second type, beware of the following errors, very common among runners in summer , which may end up taking your toll.

Shelter you more than you should

It’s summer, it’s hot and you’ve taken the not very thoughtful decision to go running with long tights and the San Silvestre shirt (their long sleeves come very well on December 31, but maybe not now). Beyond fashion, dressing you up is putting your health in danger , especially if we are at 35 degrees in the shade.

Do not use the right clothes (minimum short sleeve and, if possible, technical fabric) are making it difficult to evacuate sweat : a mechanism of our body that acts to refresh us when its temperature is too high . You are contributing to raise the temperature of your body in a couple of degrees more, besides, surely, find yourself uncomfortable.

Remember that it is always better to spend some cold before starting to run (which surely will not be the case during the summer) than to play a dehydration in the middle of your training or in a race.

To pass of the warming

“If I’m just going to run half an hour, why am I going to warm up?” Well, if you come to spend more than eight hours sitting in front of your computer in the office, maybe it’s a good idea to start moving slowly and waking up your muscles and mobilizing your joints .

It does not consist in finishing as soon as possible to return home and stop passing heat, but in doing a quality training that also implies preventing the appearance of possible injuries . Minimum a few minutes of fast walking are necessary to put the body on notice that you will demand a remarkable effort.

Forget the suncream

Not protect our skin properly, especially in summer, can pass bill and good. Choose a sunscreen according to our needs , broad spectrum and with a high sun protection factor is essential to protect us from the sun. Also the use of a cap to protect our head and sunglasses to keep our eyes safe is interesting in summer.

Remember that there are already specific sun protection products for athletes , which keep the protection intact despite the sweat, easy to apply and that do not become a paste when we break a sweat. Extend the sunscreen areas of your body that are exposed and insists on places where the skin is more sensitive, such as the nape of the neck, shoulders, neckline and the top of the ears.

Do not modify workouts to train with heat

In previous occasions we have talked about the different adaptations that our body undergoes when training with heat : the pulsations go up more than we are used to , the breath is more choppy, the fatigue appears more easily and the recovery times after a Training (or within this, in the case that we practice series, for example) are longer.

That is why it is important that we adapt our workouts for the high temperatures : include more sessions of strength in the gym, where the temperature is more appropriate, reduce the intensity or times of our exits or modify our schedule of going out to run are small changes that They will make the training more enjoyable and less dangerous for us.

Neglecting hydration before, during and after training

Hydration is a very important part of running training throughout the year, but much more so in summer, when high temperatures facilitate dehydration and heat stroke in runners. Keeping us well hydrated throughout the day is basic to our performance and, above all, to preserve our health.

Drink small sips of water before going out to train and choose routes where you know you will find fountains on the road, or take a hydration pack with a couple of drums filled with fresh water. At the end of your workout, rehydrate with water (it is still the reference drink) and, if this has been very intense, you may have a drink with mineral salts .

Do not perform a correct pre-workout intake

In summer, due to high temperatures, we often tend to eat less than we do the rest of the year: it increases the consumption of fruits, vegetables and vegetables , more appetizing at this time. This is very beneficial but we must be aware that their caloric intake is reduced and that we must continue to maintain a calorie intake adequate to our needs, especially if we are athletes.

Many people, also, facing the summer, often fall into very restrictive diets that do not provide a correct amount of nutrients to your body. If your goal is to lose a few kilos for the holidays, the solution is not to stop eating systematically or to take diets of 800 kilocalories that are dangerous for health, even more so when we are athletes. Focus on consuming quality foods instead of ultra-processed products and providing the necessary nutrients to have a good performance in your workouts.

Over train to compensate for bad meals

Although, as we have said, in summer we eat more fruits, vegetables and vegetables, we often abuse other less healthy things like the canes, the tapas that accompany them or the ice cream. That, added to that we feel the need to prepare our body to see us well in bikini or swimsuit, can derive in the theory of “well, as today I have eaten two ice creams, instead of going for an hour, I will run two for burn it . ” And that’s how easy we can fall into overtraining.

Exercising to make up for a bad meal is not a good idea, especially because we tend to underestimate what we eat and overestimate what we burn (we spend less energy than we think and consume more). Also because we can enter a dynamic of “I do not care what I eat because then I’ll burn” being this the perfect excuse to stuff ourselves with junk food and neglect our food.

Performing more exercise on a daily basis when we have more free time, such as vacations, is a very good idea; but to do it thinking that through exercise we can compensate a bad diet is to deceive ourselves.