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!