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Community Corner

Local Experts: Take Heat Deadly Serious

Death during weekend racing event underscores advice to heed the body's warning signs.

Zachary Gregory was a physical therapist with offices in Skokie and an avid runner. But his death during a half-marathon race Saturday has local experts warning athletes to take adequate precautions in the extreme heat.

The Chicago resident, in his 20s, was running in the 13.1-mile event in the city when he collapsed and died, the Chicago Tribune reported. It serves as a tragic reminder that even well-practiced athletes are at risk in hot weather, the experts said.

“Before anybody undertakes a marathon, my advice is go see a doctor,” said Harvey Edelstein, head trainer at Skokie’s Fitness First.

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Beyond getting a regular checkup, Edelstein recommended getting a stress test, a procedure where a cardiologist has a patient run on a treadmill, gradually increasing the speed and incline while monitoring the heart rate and blood pressure.

“The cardiologist can tell if there are any abnormalities brought on by stress that you might not normally see on a routine appointment,” Edelstein said. “That may very well be what happened to this fellow that died. I don’t know, but it’s a possibility.

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"I’m very conservative, but I think when you’re dealing with your life you should be,” he added.

Dr. Benjamin Hasan, a family medicine and sports medicine specialist at NorthShore University HealthSystem, said the key to staying healthy during a race is listening to your body and exercising common sense.

“If you start to feel woozy, lightheaded or nausea, that can be a sign that your body is overheating,” Hasan said. “The correct thing to do is stop running, seek shade, drink fluids and go home. I think a lot of racers are reluctant to do that once they’ve started a race.”

The weather was muggy and the temperature was above 90 degrees during Saturday’s race. According to the Tribune's story, Gregory was among 11 runners who were transported to the hospital before the half-marathon event was canceled at 9:15 a.m. Only 130 of the more than 4,000 participants finished the race.

“You can definitely overheat in a half-marathon,” Hasan said. “Depending on how fast you’re going and who you are, that can happen if the temperature is over 60 degrees.”

Matthew Soules, running club coordinator at Life Time Fitness in Bloomingale, said that the average completion time of a race can change from year to year based on the temperature.

“When there’s heat, your body has to deal with that heat in some way,” Soules said. “Your body wants to deal with the heat by not working as hard.

"It’s fine to slow down. I would rather live to fight another day than push during conditions that are too hard and wind up with heat stress or heat stroke,” he added.

Soules recommends training as if racing: drinking the same amount of water to avoid cramping up, wearing broken in shoes and running once or twice a week in the heat.

“You’re training your body to sweat more and to have a larger blood volume so you have a larger capacity to deal with heat," he explained. "So if it’s hot on race day, you’re prepared and know what you need to do.”

Chicago’s erratic weather can be particularly perilous for athletes--the National Weather Service reported that Saturday's high of 92 was 16 degrees above normal.

“The body has to become acclimatized to heat,” Hasan said. “Evaporation of sweat off the skin will cool us. If we go from an environment that’s consistently 50 to 60 degrees and run a race where it’s 80, our sweat glands aren’t acclimatized by that.”

Both Edelstein and Soules said that runners preparing for their first marathon can benefit from joining a running club.

“It’s great to be able to talk to people and get tips and tricks for what they’re doing at a certain race,” Soules said. “Local groups will often have experience with the race you’re planning to do. You’re likely to get some local intel about the race and about running too.”

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