Everything was going fine until I ate the pavement. My surroundings were perfect: palm trees with tall fronds blowing gently in the breeze, huge violet and hot pink blossoms perfuming the air with their fresh, floral scent, the air filled with the twitter of happy birds doing whatever it is happy birds do, and the distant crash of waves hitting the beach at the opposite end of the resort. My running companions were perfect, too: my husband, who plays hockey regularly but only runs sporadically; and my 8-year-old daughter, who loves to run but usually only in break-neck, all-out, too-short bursts, and isn’t interested in going more than a kilometer with plodding old Mom. But this morning, our first at the Grand Sirenis Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico, inspired by the blazingly blue sky and the tropical warmth, they’d both come out for a run with me OF THEIR OWN FREE WILLS! My two older children, never inspired by much other than videogames, were still sleeping in our room.
Everything was going fine. Granted, my daughter had slowed to a walk for about the fifth time in ten minutes, complaining of stomach cramps. You’ve gone out too fast, I told her sagely, you’ve got to slow down and control your breathing. Later I’d find out that no, wise old running Mom was wrong, the poor thing was actually in the first throes of Montezuma’s Revenge, but at the time I decided to leave her with my husband and surge on ahead, periodically running back to rejoin them. What I hadn’t counted on in my ecstatic enjoyment of surroundings that A) weren’t covered with snow and ice, and B) weren’t landscaped in mind-dulling shades of white and grey, was that even though the paved trails meandering through the resort weren’t icy, 84% air humidity can still a slippery surface make. I was about 300 metres ahead of my husband and daughter when I came to a bend in the road. Perfect time to run back, I thought, turning in my brand-new Saucony Hurricanes (a two-month-long bout of peroneal tendonitis has forced me to abandon my beloved New Balance 880’s in favor of stability/light motion-control shoes), and though the Hurricanes have proven good for my wonky ankle, I was soon to discover their traction leaves much to be desired. I turned, slipped on the humid pavement, and took a first-class flight on Air Face-Plant. BLAM! Pain. Oh, the pain! “I’m OK!” I hopped to my feet, blood trickling from my left knee, flowing into the scratches and dirt streaked across my sweaty shin. The heels of my hands were scraped, filthy, and inlaid with a delicate smattering of non-precious stones. “I’m OK,” I yelled again, brushing myself off and grinning like an idiot, because the last thing a mother wants is to look like a mere, clumsy, accident-prone mortal in front of her darling daughter. And in front of a few other women on their way to breakfast who were gasping in concern behind me. Yay. Spectators. I limped back to the room, cleaned myself up, slapped on some Band-Aids, and called it a day. Time to dull the pain with a Pina Coloda or ten. It’s now been over a week, I’m back in Canada, my burns are peeling and my tan is fading, but I still have a giant, sore scab on my left knee, a reminder that I should’ve done a bit more to prepare myself for the realities of suddenly running in a hot, humid climate after months of surviving in a cold, dry one. On your upcoming vacation, don’t be like me. Don’t get so caught up in the beauty of your surroundings that you fail to pay attention to what’s going on around you. Cars, golf carts, wild critters, and poor footing can all conspire against you. Here are a few tips to practice sweating safely. Timing is Everything In a tropical climate, temperatures can heat up a lot faster than you think. By 8am that morning, it was already 26°C (79F) and 33°C (91.4F) with the humidity in the Mayan Riviera. That didn’t bother me much, as I’m a heat-seeker, but my husband was already having trouble (that’s why he didn’t mind hanging back with my daughter). Bring a headlamp so you can rise early and run before the sun comes up. If you’re too relaxed (or hung over) to drag yourself out of bed, instead enjoy the beautiful outdoors on your way to your resort’s gym to run safely on the treadmill, or try out the suggestions below. Pre-Chill to Be Chill Elite athletes regularly lower their body temperatures before they exercise, allowing them to exercise longer before they overheat. We recreational athletes can accomplish the same thing by taking a 10-minute cold shower right before going out for a run. Alternatively, if you have a mini-fridge in your hotel room, you can freeze a bandana or hand towel overnight, or wet it with the coldest water available and tie it around your neck for few minutes before you start running. Keep it on while running if it’s not too uncomfortable. This will help you keep your core temperature down even when it’s already hot outside. Water—Not Just for the Pool Drink and drink some more: 8 to 12 ounces of water before you go out, then another 8 ounces every 15 minutes (or 12 ounces if you’re a heavy sweater). If you’re planning on running longer than an hour, drink something containing electrolytes instead. Nuun tablets are great to take along on holiday because they’re small, portable, and can pass easily through security. Remember: don’t drink the tap water even in respectable resorts and hotels at most tropical destinations! Stick to bottled water instead, or you’ll end up with stomach problems like my poor little girl, and the last thing you’ll want to do is run. Listen to Your Heart Heart rate tends to climb more rapidly in the heat, even if your pace is the same or slower than you’d run at home in more moderate temperatures. For every degree the body’s internal temperature rises, the heart beats about 10 beats per minute faster. If you’ve been curious about heart rate training, this is the perfect time to ignore pacing and pay attention to your heart rate monitor. Don’t know what your maximum heart rate is? A rough guide is to subtract your age from 220. For example, I’m 44, so my max heart rate is approximately 220-44=176 beats per minute. Staying at 75% or below of your max heart rate (in my case: 0.75 X 176=132 bpm) will keep you feeling good enough to go scuba diving or hit the swim-up bar later. And, by the way, 44 years old is not old enough to be repeatedly told, “OK, Boomer,” despite what my 13-year-old son thinks. Carbs Are the New Black Your muscles require more energy (glycogen) to perform in hot weather, burning through more carbohydrates during your runs. So load up with a banana and bagel from the breakfast buffet before you go out. But take it easy on the steak and eggs: since your body uses more energy to metabolize proteins, eating a lot of it will actually raise your body temperature. Don’t Be a Hero If you feel dizzy, nauseated, or get a headache or muscle cramps while running in the heat, you may be experiencing heat exhaustion or heat stroke. I know you’re tough and stubborn (aren’t all runners?) but now is not the time to push through the pain. Get inside or to a cool area (even the shade is better than nothing) as quickly as possible and seek medical attention. Tired of running in a frozen wasteland? Ready for a change of scenery and some greenery? Hop on a plane, get out of this cold, and run safely, amigos!
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AuthorKathy Istace runs and races in one of the coldest cities on earth. Archives
December 2020
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