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While posting the pic I noticed five of us wearing hats and two not wearing. Dennis, camera, was also hatless. Today was hot and humid, so humid it in fact rained a bit at the tail-end of the run. But the sun wasn't out.
In looking at the picture and realizing I look old with a beard, I begin to think about the trade-off for wearing a hat, which seems to be decreased rays on the noggin vs. increased retained heat under the hat.
Then I thought do hats hinder or help? Are they more protection for the face than a heat saver for the head? Under what conditions should a hat be worn? Should hats be worn in races? At what distance do they begin to make a difference? What type of hat works best? ( I think Kevin's green hat, which is lightweight and has venting is probably the best - I have the same hat from the Foxy Trail Half Marathon.)
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I'm calling on an aspiring PhD student in exercise physiology to give me some answers. I did a cursory search on google for "wearing a hat or not during running", and didn't find much. The best was http://fellrnr.com/wiki/Running_in_the_Heat, which actually cites scientific studies. However, no studies are cited in relation to hats. As a bonus, I'll post the dissertation here.
Keep it sweaty.
SEHRC
I'm not a PhD but wearing a hat is a no brainer for me for two reasons.
ReplyDelete1. it keeps sweat from dripping in my face and eyes. I sweat a lot and when I don't wear a hat it bugs me.
2. the pre-cancerous mole removed from my scalp that left a 3 inch divot in my head put the fear of god in me. I don't want cancer if I can avoid it.
Prior to the scalp thing, I used to prefer a visor because it kept the sun off my face, the sweat out of my eyes, and my head stayed cool.
So. my advice would be that a visor might be a good compromise as long as you aren't worried about keeping the sun off your scalp.