My Journey With Health And Fitness – Safety Reminders For Warm Summer Days

It was another gorgeous morning for a run today and I really enjoyed it. Wait, what, it was a 10k? Yes, I suddenly realized that even a 10k is no longer incredibly challenging and instead I can just run without thinking about tired leg muscles or that my feet hurt. Now anything up to a 12k just feels like a good workout. Hmm, while I know I have been working hard for months I just didn’t see a point where I would think nothing of doing a long run. It does really motivate me to keep going at least at this level.

When I got back from my 8k walk this morning (which was done after the very early morning 10k run) I hit the shower. Normally I like a long, hot shower (we have an instant hot water heater so we never run out of hot water) but because the weather warm even at 9:30am today I got in the shower and set the temperature to around ‘tepid’ so that I could cool down. That made me think that especially with even warmer weather coming to the Metro Vancouver area next week that I should do some safety reminders of being out in the heat. Here are some safety tips that may help.

1. Wear a hat – I never walk or run without a hat, even in cold weather. Ok, I admit there are 2 reasons for this, a) I hate little flyaway hairs touching my face and b) as the temperature rises I sweat even more profusely and the hat helps capture the sweat from my forehead. But it also serves other purposes including protecting the top of the head (you can get sunburn on your scalp) and shading your face thus preventing skin damage.
2. Hydrate – One of the ladies in my walking group who is an avid cyclist told me that she had been for a bike ride on Tuesday and hadn’t drank much water. By time she got home she felt horrible and she was like that for the rest of the day. Needles to say on our walk yesterday she had a bottle of water (as did I). Hydration is essential for being out in warm weather even if you are just sitting on the deck in the sun or working in your garden. Dehydration during the heat can lead to things such as heat exhaustion or even worse heat stroke. And, if you exercise in the heat, hydration helps keep those muscles going at the best of their ability.
3. Pick the right time of day – when I say I did an early run this morning I wasn’t kidding, I was on the road at 4:50am. I do that so that I can avoid the worst heat of the day. Right now I am even trying to get most of my walking done before noon to miss the heat. So, think early morning or later in the evening especially for strenuous exercise. Remember, overexertion in the heat is often a cause of heat stroke (I am using that as an excuse for not running while on my next trip to Mexico).
4. SUNSCREEN – Ok, I put that in capitals because it is so important and research has shown that while people tend to wear sunscreen they don’t necessarily do it correctly (note, sunscreen is also important on cloudy days as UV rays can penetrate clouds). There has been lots of discussion on what Sun Protection Factor (SPF) is enough and I have read articles that applying anything over SPF 30 is wasting money as it will usually cost more. But here is the reality, applied correctly , the protection from UVB radiation by SPF 15, 30, 50 and 100 is 93%, 97%, 98% and 99% respectively so note, doubling the SPF value does not double the protection. But a few pieces of advice for sunscreen, a) use a broad spectrum sunscreen so that it protects from both UVA and UVB, b) reapply every 2-3 hours especially after toweling off for example after sweating or swimming and c) slather it on! This is one of the areas people apparently fail as they only put on a light coat of sunscreen but in this case more is absolutely better. Personally I spray a ton of sunscreen on every time though a personal tip learned from experience, don’t forget to do the tops of your ears.

In all honestly I am more of a mild weather kinda gal so I do my best to find good work arounds that will help keep me safe.