Steam room before a race

Rockman

Hi


Can anyone advise if it would do any harm to go to a steam room for 10-15 minutes on the morning of an evening 10k running race?


Thanks

indesisiv

I don't think that it will do you any harm. After all a warm up is about warming up your body.

Geoff1963

If it is a serious race, try a "dry run" ; have the sauna, then do a practice run. Running is in part, knowing how your body is behaving ; and the morning steaming, might cover up some race-useful signs.

parking_question_chap

indesisiv wrote: »

I don't think that it will do you any harm. After all a warm up is about warming up your body.

Thats not exactly how warming up the body works.

Warming up means, getting the blood pumping through the muscles, loosening and putting them through the range of motion they will be performing during the race.

A steam room, or sauna will constrict the deeper blood vessels (incuding some in the muscles used to run), in order to increase blood flow at the surface to dissipate heat. This is an automatic reaction of the body. In the short term before a race, a session in a steam room or sauna would probably be detrimental to running.

However, all that said, if we are talking steam room in the morning then race in the evening, this is more than sufficient time for the blood to be routed back to the required vessels in the muscles.

AirJoe

Warmth before exercise and cold after is the way to do it so you should be fine.