Saturday morning was my first real encounter with the dreaded humidity. I awoke early to get a good breakfast in before I headed out for my regular Saturday morning long run. I knew it was going to be a warm day so I figured 8am would be early enough to squeeze in a long run. However to my dismay, the humidity was already pretty bad when I woke up at 6am. I ate my normal breakfast and drank 32 oz of water before I left for my run. That is a lot for me to drink before a run but I knew that I would need every extra ounce of water.
Before I headed out the door, I made sure to grab my
water belt and a bottle filled with ice and water. I also mapped out a 10.5-mile route that I knew would provide me with decent shade along the way. The route also gave me options to shorten the run if I was struggling too much due to the heat. I learned my lesson running on hot days with little shade last June. On that particular day, I left the house around 9:30am, which was my first mistake. Then of course the route I ran had minimal shade and little options to shorten the run if the heat was getting to be too much. Needless to say on that day, I ended up fainting in my house after the run due to a mild case of heat stroke.
Since the heat stroke incident, I always make a point to get up early on mornings that I plan to take a long run. I also try my best to hydrate well the night before and the morning prior to running. A bottle of water or my
Camelbak always accompanies me on a warmer long run. It is also important to wear a good sunscreen made for outdoor exercise.
My run started out pretty rough. I struggled to get a good rhythm going because I was so focused on how tough of a time I had breathing. Finally about three miles into the run, I found my rhythm. My pace picked up but then I hit a stretch that was in the wide open with little shade from the sun. The next two miles in the open really took it out of me and I knew I was going to have trouble making it the entire 10.5 miles. I continued pushing myself until I hit mile eight and realized that if I didn’t cut my run short, I was going to end up passing out again like last year due to heat stroke. Ten minutes later after completing a total of 9.2 miles, I arrived home feeling pretty exhausted but not anywhere near as bad as last year.
Now I have my first real hot and humid run out of the way. It’s time to prepare for tomorrow and my next humid morning run. Until next time, keep running and stay safe in this humid weather that is upon us. Water and electrolytes are your friends.
