Trailing another runner by a meter or so can remove up to 80% of the energy cost of air resistance, making it a very attractive decision on a windy day.ДЄccording to Davies, a mile (on a day with no wind) tucked behind another runner is four seconds easier than running it alone! Does running in the wind cool you down quicker? While this rule is rather rough and based on treadmill studies, itвЂ™s reasonably applicable to racing speeds for most road runners.Дavies also conducted some crude measurements of вЂњdraftingвЂќ behind other runners and found his data in agreement with Pugh: The equivalent headwind (6-minute miles into a 10mph wind) would slow you by about 12 seconds per mile.

If you are running 6:00 mile pace with a 10mph tailwind, aВ tailwind equivalent would increase your performance by about 6 seconds per mile. However, results from real-world track races make it clear that, even in overground running, the benefits of a tailwind do not entirely offset the drawbacks of a headwind.Дavies also demonstrates that a tailwind that effectively eliminates air resistance. While a tailwind does aid performance significantly, you only вЂњget backвЂќ about half of what you put into a headwind when you turn around and run with it at your back.Д«ut Davies rightly points out that this relationship is diminished slightly during outdoor running-on a treadmill, any tailwind that exceeds your running speed is wasted, as you must remain in place on the treadmill. Like Pugh, he found that oxygen consumption increases (and therefore, performance decreases) proportional to the square of the wind speed. Davies investigated the effect of headwinds and tailwinds on three subjects using a similar treadmill-in-wind-tunnel setup.2 In a later study published in 1980, C.T.M. Pugh confirmed these findings by taking airflow measurements in the wake of a single runner, then computing the effective air resistance for a runner-shaped object one meter back.ДЇrom his measurements, it appears that there is still some benefit from drafting even two or three meters behind another runner. PughвЂ™s study found an 80% decrease in wind resistance when drafting off another runner! This corresponded to about a 6% drop in oxygen consumption for the given pace. In an additional experiment, Pugh measured the oxygen consumption of his runner first while running alone into a headwind, then while running one meter behind another runner. So, the performance hit of a 10mph wind is four times greater than that of a 5mph wind, and the additional resistance running into a steady wind at 5:40 mile pace is twice that encountered when running into the same wind at 8:00 mile pace. He found that oxygen consumption, and therefore energy cost, increases with the square of the airflow over the body. Pugh measured the oxygen consumption of his runner over a variety of running speeds and wind velocities. Pugh, a researcher in London.1 In his experiment, he had his subject (there was only one, an international-caliber middle distance runner) run along a treadmill cleverly mounted inside a wind tunnel. The first study weвЂ™ll look to was published way back in 1971 by L.G. Much of the initial work was hammered out in the вЂ70s and вЂ80s, while more recent work tends to focus on the effects of wind in the sprint events, perhaps inspired by the surge of sub-10 second hundred meter times since the late 1990s. Today weвЂ™re turning our attention to the role of wind resistance in aiding or impairing performance, a topic thatвЂ™s only received spotty coverage over the years. If the wind is pushing me, itВ can only mean one thing, on the way back IВ will be running into a headwind. What weвЂ™ll try to do today is look intoВ running in windy weather and see if we can come up with a вЂњrule of thumbвЂќ for wind resistance and running performance. How will running into a 10 mph wind, 15 mph wind, 20 mph wind slow me down?ДЄny runner, especially one who lives out in the country, up in the mountains, or along the expansive plains of the Midwest, knows how wind affects performance. How is running in windy conditions going to affect my race? Running into a headwind for a marathon does not sound fun.

Your race plan crumbles before your eyes. Now, with just a few days to go, theВ weather forecast shows strong winds. Given up hours of socializing with friends. You have pushed through those mental barriers. For months you have put in hours of work diligently following your marathon training schedule.

How to make a curse of windy days