I wouldn't have thought over dressing is a great idea though..
I thought Stolly attributed some his issues in the fellsman to over heating, sweating and cooling?
I tend to start quite cold.. but I run hot and will soon be warm. I can't think of many times I've been cold in a race though.
Yep, Goldilocks is the best way, not too hot and not too cold, but just right.
A good thread IMO, it has made me think more carefully what I take with me on the hill.
ATB
Tahr
Then think about this.
there are 2 halves to the equation
body temperature = heat in - heat out
lots of talk about reducing the heat out but not so much about maintaining heat in.
We generate heat by burning calories - so keep them going in.
you'll avoid hypothermia better if you have, and use a plentiful supply of food.
Think of your food in 2 lots - 1 lot to keep you going on that long run or race, one lot in case of emergency to help you stay warm if you have to stop.
Just as important.
A cautionary tale about not having enough layers...
I can attest to be being glad of wearing both a buff and a hood when out on Ilkley Moor a few weeks ago, and consequently I was not eaten by worms :thumbup:
But in the end, journeys brought joys that outweighed the pain - F.T.
I got a timely reminder in the perils of slowing down at Easter. Set off from Ennerdale thinking I was overdressed (long trousers, long sleeved baselayer, Paramo Velez), given the Met Office were forecasting "light rain". By the time I was up on the Herdus/Great Bourne/Starling Dodd ridge it was quite clear I wasn't, and added a hat. I was happy to be testing new GPS/mapping on phone rather than trying to navigate with map and compass in the wind and cloud. And continuous heavy rain. I think the Met Office were on commission to get more tourists up to the Lakes.
Anyhow, that was all OK whilst trotting along. But coming down Scale Force I ended up slowing to get a couple of walkers who'd also been caught out down to easy ground. That's when I realised I was soaked to the skin, and the uncontrollable shivering set in in the maybe 30 min I was moving slowly. Warmed up again fairly well once moving faster again, and down in valley by then any, but a sharp reminder that I would not want to be sitting about on the fell in running gear. Waterproof legs have been in the sac since then......
Re: Iain's point of dropping off the ridge to get out of wind - agree, but bear in mind that in many places that'll also drop you out of mobile phone reception. Which is fine if you're confident you can get back (and irrelevant if you're not carrying a mobile ;-) ), but worth remembering if you're worried you might need help.
Don't know any details but just seen this on on Grough News. hope he's ok.
http://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/201...ed-during-race
Yes, I hope he's OK too. I came across him and an Ambleside runner called Tim who was helping him to put on his overtrousers and together we helped the hypothermic runner to get to the checkpoint on Dow Crag as it was the nearest point we could get help. However, due to the thick clag, the helicopter couldn't get to him so MRT had to go up and carry him down to beneath the cloud from where he was flown to hospital. Don't know any more than that apart from that he was in quite a bad way, stumbling, slurred, at times incoherent speech and loud moans. Poor chap.
It had started off quite warm, but by the time I was ascending Swirl How the rain seemed to get heavier and the wind got up a bit and I started to get quite cold. In fact, before coming across Graham and Tim, I was just thinking to myself that I'd had enough and wanted to get off the hill because I was getting too cold. Fortunately, once we'd left Graham in the marshals' capable hands, Tim and I were able to run again and soon regained some warmth.
Just goes to show though - June and it wasn't even as if the weather was that bad - just being out in it for several hours, using up fuel reserves, getting wet and blown on ... it doesn't take much to start to get into trouble.