I hate humidity. It’s my kryptonite. I’m a wuss in its presence. Who in their right mind wants to feel as if they are wearing a warm, wet blanket. Ugh!
For the last few weeks, the weather has been either scorching hot and humid or rainy and muggy. So yes, I get dressed in the morning for a power walk. But do I actually leave my air-conditioned house to do the power walk? Not so much. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind sweating when I workout. I just don’t like sweating because I walked out my front door.
Well a few days ago, I decided my weather wuss days were over. I spent about 90 minutes outside weeding and trimming the rose bushes. I kept pushing off this chore to the point where the rose bushes were covering the walk to our front door. Nothing like getting poked and scratched by thorns every time you leave the house to motivate you. I set Friday for the day and figured it would double for my workout. Of course, the temps topped 99 degrees, making it the hottest and muggiest day of the year. Awesome!
But I didn’t burst into flames from the heat or melt away in the humidity. I just kept myself hydrated and wore a baseball cap. Yes I was a hot mess afterwords. And sure, I was still sweating after I got out of the shower, but it felt great working outdoors.
So this morning I walked for nearly 45 minutes. I did 2.5 miles and my pace was just over 17 minutes/mile. While today’s not a scorcher like Friday, it is still hot and muggy outside.
H/T to Popsugar Fitness for some basic guidelines to follow for exercising on hot days: drink lots of cool water, wear a hat and loose-fitting clothes, take it easy, and walk in the shade. I did speed up my pace near the end and that resulted in some mild abdominal cramping. So that tells me I need to keep to a moderate pace and try a shorter walk tomorrow.
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- The ABC’s of sweat and sweaty workouts (blogs.montrealgazette.com)
- Think Housework Isn’t Exercise? Ha! (dot2trot.com)