Running in hot weather?

I am an original Texan grew up playing in the heat however lately around here i am having a hard time adjusting to running in the heat. Were you not sweating? My husband says i will get used to it. Turning purple doesn't sound good. Try running early before he heat sets in?

I went running today for 2 miles today, and mind you, it probably wasn't even up to 80F yet, but it was humid as hell. I did my regular plodding-wheezing 10 minute mile on the way there, but on the way back I just wanted to die. It was getting so hot, and the sun was on me, and the breeze was warm too, and I literally felt like I was wearing a full-body suit of 2 inch rubber. No heat was escaping me and I could barely move, despite drinking and/or pouring my water all over myself. It took me over 12 minutes to get back. I was purple in the face and walked stiffly back to my apartment in shame and had a cold shower.

So you all know, I hail from a land of temperate climates and walk-to-able gymnasiums, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. Is running in hot weather something you can adjust to, or will you always be slowed down by it? Do you always feel like you're going to die, is there anything you can do to not die?

Why were you ashamed? You should have been far from ashamed, you worked like a trojan to complete that run!

WTG! Forget about times and how long it took, you persevered and did not give up.

The hot weather is not permanent, weather is changeable, it is good to run in different temperatures, albeit sometimes it is damned uncomfortable. FWIW I had a similar experience two days ago on my own training run, it was virtually unbearable!

Just ensure you ALWAYS take fluids with you on any run on sunny days and if it is at all possible, if there is one side of the street or wherever you run that is more in the shade due to trees along the side of the road or buildings etc, choose that side, try to run as much in the shade as you can (although I know that many times that is totally impossible).

Seriously, never be ashamed, no matter how slow or how bad you think you have run. The vast majority of the population would not be able to do what you have done.

Hot is hard, you will have to go slower. This is why there are very few marathons in the summer. Humidity makes it worse, as cooling from sweat is less effective as the humidity increases, which will make you hold in heat that much more. One thing to be careful of is to not mistake overheating for dehydration. You should drink more than usual because you will sweat more, but drinking too much to try and cool down (rather than sate thirst) can lead to problems as your runs get longer.

I live in Scotland so can't help :-)

Thanks everyone! Awesome responses, glad I'm not the only one. And I love the whole topic all about hot weather running, so glad it was pointed out to me! Will try to run while it's cooler and try out some moisture-wicking clothes too. And if I walk further before I start running I could probably find better-shaded areas instead of the hot open sidewalk. I was covered in sweat but it didn't feel like it was helping at all, probably a humidity thing.

Purple is just what I call the dark-pink my skin goes (and stays for 45 minutes after) when I exercise really hard and get really warm - I stay pink/red in an air-conditioned area lol.

Actually OP, something just struck me with something you have just said (bolded bit from your quote post above), this happens to me too but I forgot about it until you mentioned it just now.

On a hot day, I sweat so much it runs off my face, sounds not very ladylike, but it drips EVERYWHERE lol. The other day, it was so bad, I felt "peculiar", got a really rapid heartrate and this was ten minutes AFTER I had finished running.

Now this made me panic and I realized I was rapidly overheating and it was getting dicey, I dived into a lukewarm (not cold) shower immediately and straight away, my temperature dropped and I felt right as rain. Actually, I would go further than that as to say, I felt tiptop.

Try a lukewarm shower the minute you get back from your run, I think you may find it will sort out your stress from running problem (because in short, that is exactly what it is). However, ensure the water is lukewarm, not cold as cold water will close all your pores and makes you feel even worse.

Fingers crossed it works for ya xxx

In addition to the earlier thread, Running Times has a good article this month:

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=26451

I'm thinking that next year I'm going to try the track suit method for acclimating in the spring (I'm generally an overheater so I usually wear a lot less clothing than my running friends) . I'm pretty much acclimated now, but my first couple of events in hot weather this year were really, really bad. :explode: