Nearly every day during the fall semester, collegiate runners tighten their laces for morning runs in the shadow of the mountains that span the Wasatch Front. As the globe’s temperature shifts amid ongoing climate change and the Salt Lake Valley inversions bring in a thick smog, some college athletes said they find themselves forced to train indoors or breathe in toxic air threatening their respiratory health.
Ty Davis, a track and cross-country runner for Weber State University, said the unpredictable air quality has become a regular topic of training discussion.
“Almost every day before our runs, our coaches, and even some of my teammates … talk about the air quality and decide if we are going to – or if we should – move our practice indoors,” Davis said. “It has become a normal thing to take some kind of precaution with the air quality.”
For Davis and many other Utah residents, the state’s natural beauty is often overshadowed by the Great Salt Lake’s shrinking footprint, stirring up dust that continues to steer the Wasatch Front to worsening air quality.
Utah’s deteriorating air quality, exacerbated by the drying lake, poses significant risks to the respiratory health of collegiate track and cross-country athletes. Researchers and medical experts warn that exposure to fine particulate matter and harmful pollutants can hinder lung function and long-term endurance, forcing coaches and athletes to adapt and navigate an increasingly unhealthy environment. As the lakebed continues to expose more arsenic-and-metal laden dust, the health stakes rise, raising questions and concern from collegiate athletes about the future of outdoor running in the region.
Kerry Kelly, associate professor in chemical engineering at the University of Utah and lead author of a study published in the journal Atmospheric Environment, measured these particles to try to answer some of these questions. The researchers found high levels of reactivity and bioavailability in comparison to other sediments from spots around Utah. There was a noticeably higher level of manganese, iron, copper and lead.
“Lead is a concern for developmental reasons. Manganese, iron and copper – these are transition metals and are known to be very irritating to your lungs. Once you get irritation, that can lead to this whole inflammatory response … and its adverse health effects like asthma,” Kelly said.
Other research shows air quality significantly impacts runners’ respiratory health and performance. Pollutants like ozone, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide are particularly harmful during exercise, as deeper and more frequent breathing allows these pollutants to bypass natural nasal filtration and reach the lungs directly, according to researchers at the University of Birmingham and the Canal and Rivers Trust.
More exposed lakebed leads to more dust storms, according to University of Utah atmospheric scientist Kevin Perry. Utahns living along the Wasatch Front and near the lake’s shoreline, he said, tend to experience four to five dust storms on average each year.
An Invisible Enemy
For collegiate teams in Utah, these challenges have turned air quality into a year-round consideration. Teams must balance the need to build endurance and strength with the realities of fluctuating air pollution levels, sometimes resorting to indoor facilities or scheduling practices during times of lower pollution. However, these adaptations can only go so far, leaving many athletes to face the cumulative effects of training in compromised environments.
“There are definitely days when I notice the smog and air quality, especially since we run on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail,” Davis said of the path that runs from North Salt Lake to Parley’s Canyon. “I am also aware of the arsenic and other particles from the Great Salt Lake because [of] my engineering program here at the university.”
Sprinter Nick Pembroke said he has trained from the green hills near Utah State University in Logan to the red rocks of Cedar City and has noticed the air quality sends him indoors to train more frequently. Pembroke, a senior at Southern Utah University, also attended USU for several semesters, and said the air quality in Northern Utah seems to be worse than what he experienced in Iron County.
“I definitely am able to tell the difference on how it affects my breathing,” he said. “If it’s bad … then I notice my lungs feel heavy, and I don’t do as many reps because I tire quicker.”
Some days, Pembroke said, he’ll avoid going outside when Salt Lake air quality alerts register in the orange or red zone.
Battling ‘Track Hack’
Elyse Jessen, a middle distance runner for Brigham Young University, said she is more familiar with visible air quality issues, such as polluted winter inversions and smoke from summer wildfires, but was unaware of the challenges facing Great Salt Lake.
“Whenever we are pulled inside for training at BYU, I am always under the understanding that’s is only due to [the] temperature or if it’s snowing,” said Jessen, “Obviously, there are days when I go outside, and I can see smog in the air, but I have never had conversations with my teammates or my coaches concern about air quality.”
Jessen added that she sometimes experiences “track hack,” a term runners use for throat irritation after intense training. Medically known as exercise-induced bronchostriction, or EBI for short, the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology notes “track hack” is a side effect of breathing in dry or polluted air during periods of excursion and is common among competitive and elite athletes.
“I have been running since I was 15, but I don’t think I have personally experienced any health issues from the air quality,” she said. “I don’t have asthma, and the only time I really have issues breathing are after really hard workouts or when it’s scorching hot outside.”
Katarzyna “Kasia” Nowakowska, a sophomore runner for the U, said air quality issues in the Salt Lake Valley are more noticeable than in Poland, where she grew up.
“I don’t suffer from any respiratory issues and never had to deal with air quality in my hometown, [where] it is easier to breathe,” she said. “There are days that I can see the air full of pollution, and with it being so dry and due to the higher elevation here, it is much easier running back home.”
Despite respiratory challenges created by Utah’s air quality and the shrinking Great Salt Lake, runners are required to adapt in order to train and stay competitive amid environmental hurdles.
“I never knew that I was breathing in so many harmful things in the air,” Jessen said. “But now I want to learn more about how to adapt for my health and performance.”
This article was published from the University of Utah’s COMM 4555 class.