It’s been one of those weeks when life has conspired against me getting enough sleep: work stress and after-work functions, night owl teenagers who are willing to talk to me late at night, my husband being out of town. I honestly can’t remember the last time I even got 6 full hours of sleep.
When I’m stressed, I usually wake up early, so I’ve still been getting in my workouts. I certainly need to burn off some adrenaline and load up on endorphins. When my alarm went off on Thursday, though, I was tired. I easily could have hit snooze and gone back to sleep. But then I thought of the french fries I had with lunch on Wednesday–and the bacon that was on my chicken sandwich–and the cheese–and also remembered that my day would include a dinner meeting at a nice restaurant, so I got out of bed and went for my run.
(I don’t know if that was a “healthy” decision. I know sleep is important. I know I can indulge once in a while without veering too far away from my healthy goals. But I know I would have felt crappy mentally if I had skipped that run.)
When Friday came, I cut myself some slack and decided to start my day with Rodney Yee. It was the perfect way to “do something” that was gentle on my bod
y, but still satisfied my mental need to start my day with some form of exercise.
One reason I decided that yoga was the right workout for Friday was because I had promised my friend I would run with her on Saturday before our work “retreat.” We both really enjoyed our run two weeks ago, and when I refused to run outside last weekend because of the heat, I promised I would go this weekend.
It wasn’t any cooler this weekend–we hit 104° yesterday and it was 81°F and muggy at 6:00 am this morning. We opted for the same route as last time to catch the breeze off the Potomac River and the shade along the Mall. We managed to keep a decent pace, but the humidity definitely took its toll. I was really glad I had put Gatorade in my water bottle!
When we got back to the office I begged a cup of ice off of Starbucks to help me cool off. I put some ice down my back and in my sports bra, but it didn’t seem to make a difference! I took a cold shower to speed the cool down process–I swear sometimes I am still sweating after I take a shower–gross!
Garmin Data
Total Distance: 7 miles
Total Time: 1:05
Average Pace: 9:17 min/mile
Split Times: 9:17, 9:18, 8:51, 9:01, 9:36, 9:37, 9:20
How do you cool off after a hot, summer run?
Do you use any sports drinks?
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
Great run! I started putting my water bottle in the freezer a few hours before my run. Since its so hot that way, the water stays colder longer.
I sweat after my cold shower too because I'm blowdrying my hair!
Sometimes I stick my face in the freezer, hahahahaha, just ask the Starbucks people if you can go in back into their walk-in cooler or freezer.
I couldn't function on the little sleep you get. That's why I delete my Twitter app every night!
If you run in the heat more, your body will get used to it and you'll get a little more used to the continued sweating afterward. After I shower, I usually sit in front of a fan for 5-10 minutes to keep the cooling effect going.
Who says I want to get used to it? I want to avoid it! I need to do a longer cool down, but I don't have the patience for that on weekday mornings.