Running in 35-degree heat without dying trying

August in Spain has one charming quirk: you want to keep training, and the street feels like an air fryer. You can write off the next six weeks, or you can do what the people who reach autumn intact do, which is to treat heat as what it is, another training load, and plan for it. Let's go with the second option.

Your body needs a fortnight, not a couple of days

Adapting to heat isn't a matter of mental toughness. It's a genuine physiological process: your plasma volume rises, you start sweating sooner and more efficiently, and you lose less salt along the way. All of that takes roughly fourteen days to bed in.

That's why the CorrerJuntos guide sets out a 14-day acclimatisation plan in two phases, opening with a 20-30% reduction in intensity. Yes, you'll be slower. That's the plan working, not the plan failing.

How much to drink, with numbers

This is where most people improvise and later pay for it. The practical reference is 150 to 250 ml every 15-20 minutes of running. A proper mouthful, not a symbolic sip.

And beyond 30 minutes of running, that drink should carry electrolytes rather than being plain water. When you sweat you don't only lose fluid, you lose sodium. Replacing water alone for a long time in serious heat is a remarkably efficient way to end up dizzy and cramping despite drinking constantly.

The time of day decides almost everything

Heading out at seven in the morning or at three in the afternoon isn't the same session in different light: it's a different sport. The 6:00 to 8:00 window is the safest, with the lowest temperatures and the cleanest air. The 12:00 to 17:00 window is simply the worst, with solar radiation at its peak and the tarmac behaving like a griddle.

If the afternoon is genuinely your only option, find continuous shade, lower your pace expectations and cut the session short. That isn't giving up; it's refusing to throw away a fortnight's work on one badly placed run. Add light-coloured technical kit, which reflects radiation better, and a cap if you'll be exposed.

In the heat, the goal of a session stops being pace and becomes finishing in a fit state to train again tomorrow.

The Victoris philosophy

And one concession we'll grant you

Your July and August times don't count. Genuinely. Comparing your pace in heat and humidity against your best spring month is a foolproof recipe for demoralising yourself over something you're doing well. File the data away, follow the plan, and do your judging in October, when the thermometer stops playing against you.