4 Things To Cool You Down While Running

90 degrees on a long run day?! You have got to be kidding me.

I had hoped it would magically drop to 65 degrees every Saturday; however, it was only a matter of time before my dreams were squashed and I had to subject myself to a rather uncomfortable long run. Lucky for us runners, we do have options to make a hot day not impact our plans too much.

1. Waking up earlier to avoid the peak temperatures is a start.

I set my alarm to 6am this morning and woke up feeling like P. Diddy feeling like I made the stupidest decision for a Saturday morning. I wanted to roll back over and enjoy our AC (which we just turned on for the first time last night). But, I got my butt out of bed because I knew that the temps were only going to rise.

I am a joy to be around at 6am!!!

2. Always bring a cold sports drink!

I LOVE my Camalbak Podium Chill Bottle. I fill it up to the brim with Gatorade (purple is my favorite, if you must know).

I take a few sips at every mile or less to keep hydrated, but not to the point where my stomach feels like Sea World. Having your drink chilled also gives you a bit of an instant relief from the heat.

3. Do not expect to run at your normal pace. Pay closer attention to your heart rate.

Today, I purely focused my heart rate, keeping my Garmin set to show my bmp, not the timer. I wanted to keep my pace pretty consistent, but I tried to keep it slow enough to where my heart was not exceeding 170 bpm (it averaged at 167 bpm today).

Distance	Pace
1 mi	09:45 min/mi
2 mi	09:52 min/mi
3 mi	09:52 min/mi
4 mi	09:52 min/mi
5 mi	09:45 min/mi
6 mi	09:45 min/mi
7 mi	09:48 min/mi
8 mi	13:01 min/mi
9 mi	09:42 min/mi
10 mi	09:55 min/mi
11 mi	09:41 min/mi
12 mi	09:49 min/mi
13 mi	09:46 min/mi
14 mi	09:47 min/mi

So my pace wasn't too terrible. I stayed within the same 10 seconds and averaged at 9:50/mile. Disregard mile 8. With all my runs, when I make it to my turn around point, the following mile ALWAYS shows up minutes longer than what it actually was.

4. Wear as little as possible...

I don't always prefer this method since some days us women have a tendency to feel like we are 6 months pregnant. However, there are plenty of alternate clothing options to keep you cool.

Like mesh...

I got this top from UA. It's light and lose fitting so it feels like you're not wearing the top at all.


I'm not going to lie to you though. Even though I followed all of the above today, I still was feeling decently uncomfortable and wiped after 14 miles. In fact, I was surprised that I even made it the entire distance. However, I made it a point to watch my physical well-being the whole time (heart rate, hydration, etc) and did my best to avoid the highest temps of the day.

I am prepared to follow this regime the whole summer if this is what it will take to maintain a long distance on Saturdays or Sundays. I'm sure I'm still just getting used to the hotter weather again too.


Do you change your running schedule based on heat? Do you get up earlier or run later in the evening?

Do you keep low pace expectations when it's hot?

Do you have a heart monitor that keeps track of your BPM? 

What is your sports drink of choice?