Friday, July 24, 2015

Running In The Elements - Part 1

I know I sound like a broken record (especially if you follow me on Instagram), but MAN, could I do with a little break from the heat and humidity lately! We pay an extremely high Sunshine Tax to live in Southern California, and with it, I expect sunny and 70 degree weather 95% of the year. I don't know if in the last three months we have had a day with humidity under 70%... And for us weather snobs, THAT SUCKS! Let's be real, if I wanted weather like this I would move somewhere on the East Coast and pay a whole heck of a lot less than what we fork over for "perfect weather" here...

With that, I thought I would do a quick post about tips and tricks I have found to help me "run in the elements". (My plan is to have some friends so some guests posts on things like running in the rain or snow, two things that are NOT my forte, so we can make this a whole series.)

HeatAndHumidity

Some of these things may be common sense, but like Brendon Burchard reminded us at BlogFest, "common sense does not always mean common practice".

Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate

And I don't just mean during a run. I mean the days leading up to your long runs, during runs, and after you finish (and even into the evening). Water is always my jam, but especially when the heat and humidity are out in full effect I NEED my H2O. During a "normal" run, I usually will bring hydration of some sort with me once I am running over 6ish miles, but during the warm weather, I adjust that down to 4 miles. (During today's run I ran with my hydration vest and even topped it off when I was pounding the pavement - meaning I probably chugged down about 120 ounces during my 16 mile run.)

HydrateHydrateHydrate
Not sure if you can tell, but I am DRENCHED (and covered
in salt from my sweat). EXTREMELY THANKFUL to have
brought water with me for runs like this, but hydration is
important before you even step out the front door!

Run Early or Late

When you are already dealing with heat and humidity, you don't also want to add in scorching sunshine on top of that. Obviously, we have to get our runs in when it works for our schedule, so I understand if this isn't an option, but when at all possible, try to avoid the heat of the day. (For example, this morning the hubby had an important presentation he was giving at work and was a bit nervous, so I delayed my run so I could help him run through his bullet points a few last times. I would do ANYTHING for my hubby, but let me tell you, starting your 16-miler at 9:15am {meaning not getting done until close to noon} is definitely not something I would normally recommend to others.)

Slow Your Roll

I'm sure you've heard it, but do you do it? When the heat and humidity come knocking pounding on your door, you should adjust your pace to account for the elements. There are a few equations out there, but I don't want to scare you math haters out there, so suffice it to say, you MUST run slower when the temperature rises. (But, honestly, if you are interested in what Mr. Jeff Galloway has to say about it, check out his blog post here.) (Normally my long runs I shoot to be about 60-90 seconds slower than "goal marathon pace", meaning between 9 and 9:30 miles. This morning's run had me closer to 10 minute miles and I needed to be okay with that. You cannot run as fast as you normally can in the heat or humidity. Feel free to run by effort and not by time when it comes to those warmer runs.)

SlowYourRoll
NOT my normal pace, but you've GOTTA listen to your
body and readjust your goals when the heat and
humidity rear their ugly heads while out for a run.

Now, please remember, I am NOT a professional runner or a running coach, still technically a newbie (only started running about 3 years ago), but these are things that have worked for ME, so why not spread the wealth and maybe they will help you too...

Are there any tips I left out?

2 comments:

Emma said...

Carlee!

I have been following you on instagram for the past 6 months or so, but today was the first day I actually made a point of coming onto your blog - it is so fantastic! Thank you for sharing all of your awesome running (and life!) insight! Also...I was curious about when you started this blog so..not to sound like a creep..but I went back to your first month archived and WOW, GIRL! You have done WORK! Although you were reluctant to start a blog and maybe started one out of an abundance of free time and started out posting Christmas surveys..you are such an inspiration to so many athletes out there!! Astounding!! Keep being the change, Carlee, you rock! :)

Scarabocchio Girl said...

Living in the Alps, without humidity is a great help. But when we have a very hot summer also here, than can be a problem too. Yesterday I went for my 10k run, it was almost 9 am, cloudy but extremely humid. I think I've sweat half of the normal! Humidity is a danger for me. I've noticed that hot and humidity are my enemies. I run better in cooler conditions. No way!