Anyone get red as a reddish while running? - Couch to 5K

Couch to 5K

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Anyone get red as a reddish while running?

darjeeling profile image
15 Replies

I just started the challenge but I know from experience that if I go more than I'm used to, my face gets so red I look like a lobster by the end of it. Disclaimer: I have fair skin AND a little bit of acne.

I don't stress over it but I'm wondering if it goes away in time or if it's some kind of reaction. It looks like a histamine reaction, but may be because I'm pushing myself. Thoughts?

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darjeeling profile image
darjeeling
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15 Replies
nettyk profile image
nettyk

Yes at first I was as red as a post box after 'running'. And the bad thing was it took hours to fade!!

The good news is as I've got used to it over a few weeks (got fitter?), the redness has lessened. I still go red, but not to the point where onlookers might ring me an ambulance!

Don't worry about it, the reaction will lessen over time. I noticed the other day that I am not sweating as much either. When I first started this program, after a session I looked like I'd been swimming in my clothes! Now I just have wet patches lol...

juju2208 profile image
juju2208

I'm on week 8 now and still closely resemble a huffing tomato during and for a while after my runs. Just think of the good all that extra oxygen and blood supply does for your skin ;-)

J x

nomoresloth profile image
nomoreslothGraduate

Me!!! It got a bit better (at least I think so) but I could still work as a lighthouse during and up to one hour after a run. I always get strange looks and also some comments from my colleagues if I head off to work straight after a run. As there is no remedy to it, I wear it with pride :)

Oldgirl profile image
OldgirlGraduate

3 years down the line and I'm still very red by the middle of a run, by the end I'm red and wet regardless of the weather!!! They say ladies don't sweat, well I'm sorry so I'll have to now own up "I'm no lady cos I glow bright red and sweat buckets" Nothing stops it but at least everyone can see I've put in some effort to whatever has caused this to happen.

nomoresloth profile image
nomoreslothGraduate in reply to Oldgirl

I just discovered that I'm no lady...

LMS2110 profile image
LMS2110Graduate in reply to Oldgirl

Hey, they aren't sweaty, hot flushes ....they're power surges! Go Oldgirl :D

Beek profile image
BeekGraduate

I recall once when I was doing my post run stretches someone stopping to see if I was ok. I go purple and feel like my head is going to burst! Then I walk gently home and I am still a bright cerise colour 2 hours later!

I have a question. How come I feel to be boiling but my skin feels really cold in the shower?

notbad profile image
notbadGraduate

My face goes so red it's hilarious, I have got quite fair skin too. I did find it not as bad in the winter last year, but in the meantime I'm Zebedee...

Realfoodieclub profile image
RealfoodieclubGraduate

Yes I am another beetroot. When I started my husbands face was a picture when I walked through the door. He was quite concerned. But now he is used to it.

Tready profile image
TreadyGraduate

Sorry, I still go red and sweaty but it fades quicker now. I don't think it will ever change but I don't mind

Cookiedooodle profile image
CookiedooodleGraduate

Me too, although I'm finding that the further I get through the programme the faster I recover (wk7 now). I hate it cos my run ends bang outside a secondary school, and they've all returned to school now. I've decided to keep my earphones in and listen to the lively Laura should any barracking occur!

aubloomiel profile image
aubloomielGraduate

Yes I go bright red too. I only noticed it in week 2 so I think week 1 was "easy" enough for me to not turn red..

I always relax for a bit at home before I have a shower - if I have a shower the minute I get in, I continue sweating afterwards so I give my body some time to cool down - stretch a bit, have a glass of water and a banana and then shower when I feel back to "normal". I found this helps with the red face too.

I am not that fair (have what they call an olive skin, I call it yellow) and I get quite red at the end of my runs. Don´t worry too much about it, I think is quite normal.

Poppy2010 profile image
Poppy2010Graduate

HI! I have been every shade of red in the face from beetroot to tomato, post box and radish! I sweat so much I have had white salt patches on my face too (for example when I finished the Olympic Park 5 mile run in July when it was hot but not sunny, thank the Lord; and I got a sore graze type patch on my chest but it was from salt crystals not my bra!!) It all goes beautifully with my ginger curly hair; but I now take it as a sign I have been working hard, when I sweat like a beast (as my daughter says!) :-)

newrunner56 profile image
newrunner56Graduate

Don't worry about it - I could double as a traffic stop light, I think it's absolutely normal - and anyway, it's a badge of honour, shows you have been exercising and not a pasty faced couch potato!

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