I knew it was going to be hot today, and I had a hard run workout, with some significant tempo intervals. I didn’t want to do the workout on the treadmill, and thought I was being smart, by running outside quite early for me.  Not a good decision. I ended up flirting with heat exhaustion.

When I left home, it was still overcast and to be honest, it didn’t feel that hot.  I was nicely warmed up by the time I got to the local high school. Soon, I was in the middle of my first block of tempo and sprint intervals. I then noticed that the clouds were burning off quickly and it was getting hot. The combination of heat and humidity was starting to get tough.

During my recovery from the first set of intervals, I found some shade under a group of trees. I ran back and forth in the shade to recover and felt okay, as I started the second interval set. Almost immediately, I began sweating profusely.  A few minutes later, I felt a headache starting to build. I was getting really thirsty, and sipping water from my handheld water bottle wasn’t helping. Finally, I started to feel really nauseous.

Alarm bells started to ring in my head, when I felt nauseous.  I recognized I was experiencing a lot of symptoms of heat exhaustion. I immediately stopped running, and found the shade of a nearby tree to stand still in.  It was now more important to get home and cool off, than it was to finish my workout.  Fortunately I was only a few minutes of easy jogging from home, so I forgot about the workout, and went home.

As soon as I got home, I took off my run shoes and went into the shower.  Fully dressed in my run gear, I stood under a cool shower. Gradually, I reduced the temperature of the water, until it was fully cold.  I remained in that cold shower for ten minutes. It was only then that I started to feel good again. 

I made one bad decision today, and one good one.  I was wrong to try and beat the heat, but I was right to quit my workout and seek out that cold shower at home.