Hot Weather Running

I may have mentioned how much I hate hot weather running. It turns out, I'm a little off. I hate hot, humid weather running. Sadly, in Ottawa, there is a lot of hot and humid.

The keys to running in hot and humid weather are:
1. Hydration: This can never be stressed enough. What I didn't figure out for a long time is that hydration takes a matter of days, not hours. To be properly hydrated for a run, you should really start the week before. Eight cups of water are the usual suggestion, but for runners in this weather, it should be a lot more!

2. Being sensible: Even the hardiest of marathon runners are trimming back their runs today. The Running Room group was to do 32km, but most of them stopped around 27. Myself, I was glad to do only 12km.

3. Knowing when to stop: Running in this weather is really hard on your body. Never mind the hydration, it's plain hard to do. I have heard that running in this heat is twice the effort as running on a pleasant day. So if your body is saying stop, if your calves are cramping and your vision is wavering, and you can't seem to run in a straight line, for Pete's sake, stop! The harm you will do to yourself far outweighs any benefit you could gain.

In other news, I have obtained my new shoes! I stayed with the Brooks Glycerin 7 because I had no issue with my first pair, and it was like running on a supportive marshmallow. And it seems not only do I get to run happily, I'm being environmentally supportive too - Brooks has introduced BioMoGo, to aid in the breakdown of the shoe when I send them to the Golden Shoe Closet in the sky. As long as they don't start breaking down early, I think I'm happy with that addition.

Lastly, I have signed up for two new races:
1. The U.S. 10K Classic, in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm in town Labour Day weekend anyways, so why not?

2. Run for the Cure, Ottawa, a gentle 5K in support of research on breast cancer on October 4. I figure it'll be a nice move back into running after the Army Half-Marathon! (if you'd like to donate, look me up on the website)

Go me!

16K is far

So I've been naughty again, both with posting and with running. I haven't been doing as much of either as I should.

But today, I got back into the game, and ran the 16-km run, and boy are my knees feeling it now!
It was a lovely run - starting west and running a zig-zag through the Glebe, then downtown to Laurier. From Laurier, we trekked east and north east, to the residence to the Governor General's residence. We waved to the guards on duty, who properly did not wave back (though one was leaning a little!), and carried on, past some more lovely houses (well out of any price-range I could afford), and back down Sussex to the canal.
The day was miserable and rainy when I started, but when we left the store, it was a mere misting. The rain managed to hold off for most of it, and the weather was really pleasant to run in.

However, my knees ache. It's been about eight months since I bought my running shoes, and it's time I switched to a new pair.