I hope no one has melted from the heat across much of the country recently. It's been pretty blazing hot around here, so I thought I'd share my strategies for avoiding heat stroke. Because heat stroke is no joke.
If at all possible, I'd advise trying to exercise indoors or during cool parts of the day. Unfortunately for me, neither of those options are possible. I don't own a treadmill (and wouldn't have room for one, anyway) and I don't have a gym membership. Given that I get up at 5 am on the weekdays as it is, getting up earlier to go run or bike is not happening. And that pretty much takes care of the cool part of the day.
So what else can I do? First off, hydration is very important. And I'm not talking just water. Electrolytes are important. So I take water spiked with electrolytes courtesy of Nuun tablets while I run or bike. So I'm hydrating as I go. When I finish running/biking I down some Gatorade Fit. And I chase it down with some coconut water. And I make sure that I take in plenty of fluids (mostly water) for the rest of the day.
What else? On the especially hot days, I adjust the intensity of my workouts based on the weather. I try not to push it too hard. I listen to my body and vary the intensity, accordingly.
After saying all that, I have to say that there were a couple of days this week that were not too bad. Completely due to cloud cover keeping the heat down. But it was still really humid. So lots of sweating going on.
And I guess I jinxed myself by saying that I was going to run or bike 6 days this past week. I only got in 5 days due to a late-night clean-up job created by my washing machine dumping water everywhere. I took the next day off from work. But a nap was on order. Sleep is important, too.
This week is an all running week. I took my bike in to the shop to get new road tires and new chain only to find out there was a really old recall on the pedal cranks. So now I'm getting a whole new drive train on my bike for free. But I won't get it back for a week. But I'm not complaining.
Last week's recap:
Monday: Biking, 5.21 miles, ~25 minutes
Tuesday: Post-flood day. Nap.
Wednesday: Running, 2.28 miles, 30 minutes
Thursday: Biking, 5.31 miles, ~28 minutes
Friday: Running, 2.33 miles, 30 minutes
Saturday: Pre-programmed rest day. Running around of a different type.
Sunday: Long run, 4.8 miles, 1 hour
