Doctors encourage runners to prep for warm race day weather

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - While many people may be enjoying the abrupt return of summer-like weather, it is prompting some precautions for this weekend’s Cellcom Green Bay Marathon, both on race day and leading up to it.

“Sometimes it’s a little bit warmer and the general population loves this warmth, but runners at this time of year, not great,” says Dr. Jeremy Metzler, race medical director.

It’s not great, he says, because no one is really used to this sudden splash of summer after what’s been a cool and wet spring.

That’s the majority of the weather runners have been training in.

To switch it so abruptly, doesn’t often work so well.

“Anytime there’s temperature change, probably more than 10-15 degrees above where you’ve been training, your body is not going to be (acclimated) to it, so it’s going to take awhile to adjust,” explains Metzler.

He and his medical team are prepped and ready to help runners should the temperatures or sun cause issues Sunday.

“We prepare for the worst and hope for the best, so we have our medical tents. We have our medical stations on the course. We have ice water submersion tanks in the medical tent in case people are overheating,” says Metzler.

But he’s hoping to need none of that.

Instead, he’s trying to reach into runners’ heads now, before Sunday, hoping they’ll start putting a slightly different race day plan in place.

“We ask people to slow down and really listen to their bodies,” says Metzler. “This is not a time to PR a race. It’s just not going to happen.”

Over the next few days, as we deal with this exceptionally warm weather, Metzler says it’s important to hydrate and then hydrate even more.

Click here for more race day information and details.

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