The Heat Is On

Before you can read this post you must press play on the video. It'll get you in the right frame of mind. Seriously, press play. Then scroll down.

I hope you pressed play. So...the heat is on here in Yuma. And yes, it is a dry heat. But if I hear that one more time I might go crazy. When it's 120° it doesn't matter if it's dry, it's HOT. Sure, when it's 98° and 85% humidity I don't want to run in that either. What makes the Arizona heat different is the sun. The UV index is consistently in the 9-11 range. This basically means you are being fried by the sun. Take a look at my forecast. Now tell me it's a dry heat...I dare you.

I've come up with a few strategies to run in the heat. First, don't. Second, run on a treadmill, and third, run early before the sun comes out to kill you. Of these strategies number two is my go to choice. I'm not much of a morning runner and I feel weird when I can't run at all so I don't have much of a choice. Unfortunately I don't like treadmills much. I had to comes to terms with the treadmill when I was deployed on the ship. It was either run on the mill or not at all. I choose the mill. I find running much easier physically on the treadmill, but much more difficult mentally. 

I don't listen to music when I run outside, but I do when on the 'mill. Don't let my smile fool you, I hate this machine.

The perplexing challenge I have is how to get in my long run day. Since January I've consistently done one run of at least 10 miles per week. This is something I've come to enjoy. It also gives me a great sense of accomplishment on top of giving me a fitness boost with more endurance. I don't think I can do 10 on a treadmill, that's my problem. Last week I got up early and knocked it out. That's how I re-discovered that I'm not a morning runner. I also ate no breakfast before the run so that' didn't help. My body didn't wake up enough to know it was hungry until about mile 7.

So what do you do in the summer? Do you embrace the treadmill or just go early in the morning? I'm just hoping that the heat in the summer is a fair trade-off for 9 months of perfect running weather here in the desert. For now....the heat is on.