My name is Lori and I’m from Virginia Beach. I am a runner. I don’t run for time. I may do 2 races a year. If you ask me what I am training for, I usually say “Sanity”… BUT I am a runner!
Summer Running in Virginia Beach
In Virginia Beach, we have about 8 months of warm weather and maybe 4 full months of cold (meaning average temp 40 degrees). This means that about 60-70% of the year, we have warm temps.
Believe it or not, I have actually heard locals say, “I’m not going to run, because it’s too hot” or “I’m a cold weather runner”.
What????????
As Chris Tucker said in Rush Hour, “I don’t understand the words that are coming out of your mouth!”
I have run in all kinds of hot. From, it’s a summer morning at 6am humid hot, to an August afternoon Hell on Earth where the heat wants to melt into a puddle on the path hot…But, I am out there! If you have trained for fall race, then you have trained in these kinds of hot. That is unless you live in Iceland or the North Pole.
Just Embrace It!
Instead of making excuses about the heat, you just need to embrace it! My other favorite running buddies and I call it Africa Hot. Even though I’ve never been to Africa, I can imagine how hot it is. We have run many days when we started out saying “It’s Africa Hot.” But guess what? we are out there, and we do it.
The day we always go back to is a day in August, when we ran 12 miles at 2PM. It was the only day we could fit in a long run, so we did it! And we survived! We even found a pool to jump in afterwards, which was amazing! So, every hot day that we run, we compare it to that day. Totally a mental thing, but it works… and it will for you too!
Stay Safe in Summer
Aside from just mentally preparing and quitting your bitchin’!, there are things you can do to ensure your summer training is safe. After all, even the most mentally strong need to take measures to stay physically safe.
- Run slower (see Jerry’s tips on how to ease into this) ß link to his blog
- Run with plenty of water
- Wear a hat (this provides shade and you can drench it with water to keep cool.)
- Use electrolytes, since you will be sweating so much. I personally love Nuun.
- Try to pick a route that has the most shade.
- Be sure to cool off, hydrate and rest afterwards so your body can recharge.
Just don’t say that it’s too hot.
But if it is, just lace up those shoes, channel your inner Eskimo, and get after it like it’s your job!
