Thursday, May 29, 2008

Take It and Run Thursday: Running in the Heat

Today's Take It and Run Thursday theme is ....Running In The Heat.

Heat is my running kryptonite - I'm pretty much powerless in its presence. And unfortunately for me, my marathon experiences were plagued by that little devil. It beat me down for sure.

So I'm definitely no expert in running in the heat, BUT here are some tips to help mitigate the effects:

Tips from 2007 Chicago Marathon:

- As always, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate - luckily for me, I happened to be carrying a water bottle that day (which I normally never do). Once the water from the aid stations *and* my bottle ran out, I came across several nice Chicago folks that offered to refill my bottle instead
- As suggested by a nice Chicago resident, I took her baggie of ice cubes and shoved it in my sports bra
- Drench yourself in water - such as running through the fire hydrant streams and water hoses. Sometimes I would just stand there getting drenched - it was great. (But don't drench yourself with water cups from the aid station!)
- When I was in shaded parts of the course, I would try to regroup mentally and prepare myself to be able to battle the sunny, hotter parts of the course.

Tips from 2008 Disney Marathon:

- The heat wasn't so bad there but there was also humidity to deal with
- Biofreeze worked wonders! I stopped at every medical station to lather that stuff all over. I think it's intended more for muscle pains but it had a great cooling effect.

Anyway, that's all I got - can't wait to read everyone else's tips.

6 comments:

Lauren @ mostly i run said...

You definitely deserve congratulations for making it through Chicago!

My one and only was a spring marathon, and I think if I ever do another I'll stick to that timeframe -- I don't want to have to do all those long runs in the summer heat!

Nitmos said...

I was at Chi 07 and Disney 08 and I was also there getting lubed up with Biofreeze starting at mile 20 in every tent from there on out! It is magical stuff. Though, unfortunately, I have not seen it at any other race.

Amy@RunnersLounge said...

I love your picture of you at Disney!!!

I never thought about biofreeze as a cooling agent.....

I don't know if you are a member of the Lounge yet - but if you are (or would like to join - it's free), think about adding these tips to the Know How section, under Advice (http://www.runnerslounge.com/knowhow/) for Training>Weather and Environment.

I think other runners would appreciate them.

Take care,

Amy
amy@runnerslounge.com
www.runnerslounge.com

Tree said...

Great tips from someone who has definitely btdt!

Biofreeze, huh??

P.O.M. said...

It's my kryptonite too.

You are right - it wasn't about shoes.

Before I'm 35 said...

I knew I shouldn't have passed up that BioFreeze stuff at Disney! I had that "I never used it in training, therefore it is certain death to use it during my first race!" mentality, a mistake I won't make again.

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