Heat Wave

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW YORK HAS ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8PM THIS EVENING.

COMBINATION OF HIGH LEVELS OF HEAT AND HUIDITY. HEAT INDEX VALUES UP TO 100. HIGHEST HEAT INDEX VALUES WILL OCCUR DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS.

IF NO PROTECTIVE ACTION IS TAKEN, INITIAL IMPACTS INCLUDE FATIGUE, SUNSTROKE, MUSCLE CRAMPS, AND/OR HEAT EXHAUSTION.

With this warning from my Weather Channel app in mind, I set off on a nice little 11 miler Monday evening. I know it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I wanted to get another double-digit run in before leaving for Chicago and the Rock 'N Roll Half on Sunday and this was the only day I could get it done. The pace was slow and steady - more mileage than training - and I ended up cutting it short to 9 miles due to both lack of time and the weather.

I also wore a Fuel Belt for the first time, and I'll have to admit it wasn't as annoying as I thought it might be. Once you get the placement on your hips/waist right and you get into a rhythm, you kind of just get used to it being there. It's also great to have a handy water/Gatorade supply right there for when you need it. The bottles aren't cumbersome and while they don't exactly hold a great deal - three bottles barely made a dent in a 32oz bottle of Gatorade - it was nice to know I had some liquids on my run. I'm sure I also looked like a ginormous tool, running through the streets of Huntington and Greenlawn with what essentially amounts to a liquid fanny pack around my waist, but at least I was a well-hydrated tool.

It's definitely not something I would wear on every run - obviously - but since a good portion of my training will be done over the summer, I have a feeling I will be relying on this little gadget more often than not on my long runs. In theory, I could do loops that circle me back towards my house to just rehydrate there, but that's always a dangerous game. Every loop gives you the option of bailing out and stopping before the planned mileage so I would rather not tempt myself. Thus, my new-found love affair with my Fuel Belt.

This week is almost suffocatingly busy with both work and the FD fair, plus training on top of that. I won't get to bed much before midnight any night this week and then in order to get any type of training in for myself I am up before 6. By Friday I will be walking and talking, but I don't know that I will be functioning. I took off yesterday and lifted this morning. I'm hoping to squeeze in some kind of easy bike ride this afternoon, but I'm not going to stress if it doesn't happen.

For those of you who haven't done so yet, check out my Fundraising page for the NYC Marathon. No donation is too small (or too big, for that matter)!