ASPHALT JUNKIES Summer Bronzing Crew - CLOSED (Page 40)

Hot and humid here too! I walk the dogs at 6:00 a.m. and come home sweating right through my clothes just from walking. Yesterday I couldn't even contemplate running outside in that so I compromised and ran in my SIL's pool. Even in the pool sweat was pouring down my face. No relief.

Same this morning and now that it is hot they are throwing gravel down on all the roads so I saved myself the frustration and joined cycling class at the Y this morning. Little did I know the class format has changed so after 30 min of cycling everyone gets off the bikes and leaves the room to go do weights. Ha ha ha, I just sat there pedaling away all by myself staring at the wall with no music or anything. Talk about boring!

My thoughts:Something similar happens to me most of the year but I believe I can tie it to sweat too.  My ears get a really thin layer or what I believe is salty sweat that dries and itches almost constantly.  In the past couple of months I've learned to use ear drops after swims and sometimes when I've run or ridden when it's been fairly hot out (mostly long kinds of workouts).  Using these drops may clear up any excessive liquids that remain trapped after a shower or workout.

• It is likely sweat, as I have already eluded to and may be combated in a couple of different ways.  If you don't alreay wear a visor or hat that will absorb a lot of sweat.  The best ones that seem to work for me are sweat vacs because they seem to be the most absorbent.  You can also be like some of the NBA players and wear a headband but you wouldn't look nearly as cool as those clowns.

• When you've had that feeling on the roof of your mouth have you felt like you're overheating at all?  I've not heard of anything like you're describing before.  Can you put together what kind of nutrition you've taken on these efforts.  Possibly a correlation?

• HR issues with your monitor is my first thought.  This will occur as your battery begins to run low.  Another cause can be a slightly loose strap.  I have needed to replace the strap on my HR monitor for a long time but haven't done it just yet.  (I borrowed Warrens for Boston earlier this year.)
  * - What was your PE (perceived exertion) during these two events?  If you felt like you were having these sky rocketing episodes and were feeling like you were struggling then we'll have to look a little bit deeper. 
  * - Were these episodes occurring during hard intervals, with high heat or after some work long days with high stress levels? 
  * - Were you well hydrated?
  * - What kind of conditions were you completing the work out in relative to heat and humidity?

Combating the heat is a really personal thing.  I just spoke to an KQ athlete that says he's better in the heat and can work though it better than most.  (He KQ'd at Louisville last year.)  Keeping hydrated very well will help the most but you can make sure you complete your workouts in the cooler parts of the day, so looping courses through your neighborhood and set a sprinkler out to run through each loop (but that would be VERY boring).  If you are experiencing significant cramping during long work outs then you can take some salt tabs to help reduce those chances. 

You can try to purchase some of the arm coolers (they look like arm warmers) that can keep the sun off your skin to help provide some of the radiant heat from getting to you.  I cannot say with personal experience that these work well but I can tell you that a long sleeve shirt at work has helped me on occasion when the sun is really beating down.  It seems to remove that radiant heat and had a "somewhat" cooling effect to my skin.