Running During Airpocalypse!

It’s that time of the year in Delhi… The pollution levels are way high. AQI touching 500! It’s bad bad time for any kind of outdoor activities! Once levels exceed 150, running outdoors is said to be risky; sometimes breathing gets bad and this can affect you long term. For Delhiites, we panic when the AQI goes over 200 (guess our lungs are used to the AQI of 100s). Last few days have been rough; with consistent 400+ AQIs. It’s airpocalypse in Delhi now!

How to go about the running when the air quality drops? I was advised in the past to run during mid-day. But it is not a good idea.

When it is hot and humid, the air pollution is intensified. Also, traffic can increase the level pollutants. So, running early in the morning is good solution. If the AQI is way too high, treadmill is the only solution. It is frustrating to run on treadmill when we have a goal race coming up in couple of months. But for the sake of the long term health, time to sacrifice the speed games outdoors!