Too Hot To Run

Normally, I reserve Saturdays for my long runs. I decided that this would give me Sunday to recover and in essence would almost realign me with the Insanity Workout Program that I am currently following as well. But, there are heat advisories outside and the temps the past couple of days are in excess of 100 degrees F. Again, my goal is to survive marathon training so I can survive the actual marathon. I decided to sneak in my Insanity Workout this morning and see how things went from there. Yesterday, I got the run accomplished, but no Insanity. Yesterday was hot as well, but I managed to get up at 5:30 am and be out the door by around 6:30 for an hour long run/walk (Insanity is tearing apart my calves and quads making the adjustment a little rough). 

Anyone should be careful when going outside in excessive heat conditions, but athletes need to be a little more cognoscente. As I am sure you know, runners sweat a lot when running, which if not properly hydrated can lead to dehydration. Throw in high temps and you guess it, potential for a climate related disaster, albeit heat stroke or other heat related ailments.

Here's the Rundown on what you need to watch out for:
1. Heat Cramps: Brief painful muscle cramps that can be in any muscle that is being worked hard. In runners, that's your legs and your stomach. The cramps are usually sharp pains or spasms. No one knows the exact cause of these cramps, but usually it is because of an electrolyte imbalance. 
How to Treat: Drink lots of fluids, especially water and possibly gatorade/powerade if your electrolytes are low. A lot of times you may need to replenish the sodium in your body, remember sodium is a crucial part of your sweat, which your body uses to cool you down. 

2. Heat Exhaustion: This can be the precursor to heat cramps, but this is when your body cannot cool you quick enough and you begin to get overheated. Symptoms can be a heat rash, which look like tiny blistery beads of sweat. These form because the sweat glands are being blocked. This condition is also known as prickly heat. Before my parents and I moved into our new house growing up, we all used to get bouts of prickly heat at my old house during the summer when temps were ridiculous. Trust me when I say this, it hurts a lot. Our solution was to drive to the mall and hanging out in the air conditioning to escape the heat since our house didn't have any air conditioning.
Other Symptoms to Look For:
A lot of sweating, weakness, muscle cramps, headache, and nausea/vomiting 
How to Treat:  Begin cool down by moving to a cooler area. Anything to help bring down your core temperature. Water and sports drinks, start by sipping slowly, especially if you feel nauseous. You want to keep the fluids down. If that does not work, then you may need an IV. For muscle cramps, an over the counter pain reliever will work.

3. Heat Stroke: This is a form of hyperthermia (meaning the body has become way too hot). This is the most serious case and if you do not treat this immediately and properly it can result in death. This is when your body temperature rises to over 104 degrees, and you begin to see changes in your nervous system. 
Symptoms to Look For:
Elevated Body Temperature, dizziness, no sweating, but red flushed face/skin, rapid pulse, difficulty breathing, hallucinations, disorientation, confusion, seizure, or coma. 
How To Treat: Call 911 immediately. Get yourself out of the sun (this is also referred to as sun stroke) and strip down to try and cool yourself. Spray yourself with cool water. Place ice  packs in areas like your armpits (think of where you sweat a lot because cooling those areas will help promote sweating). Drink plenty of fluid, especially water and sports drinks. 

It should be noted: I am not a doctor nor do I have any intent upon passing myself off as one, I am just good at googling. The information above was taken from sites like webmd and medicine.net and general knowledge from living with my mother, who works at a hospital and at one time was an RN. I got lectured a lot growing up about many different things, this topic was one of them since I ran track. I just condensed what I found and what I knew down into my own words to give you a quick rundown of what it is, symptoms, and treatments. If you want to know more about the specifics, then go ahead a google! But if you have any doubts or you think you should call 911, then go ahead and do it because its better to be safe than sorry, or dead... 

In this heat wave stay cool, and happy running on a more tolerable day!