Humidity: A study of things that suck

I love summer. I love it. I love the longer days, the sun tans, the outdoor activities, trips to the beach. You name it, but what is really taking it out of me right now is this God-awful humidity. Temps in B'ham have been relatively mild, upper 80's and low 90's. Not bad, but with the humidity being what it is, fall and winter don't look that bad any more. For example, I went home last night and took my wife and daughter out for a walk. It was around 5:45 or so. Temp was 88, but the heat index was 99! There was no wind to speak of either. Not even a warm breeze.

Now the walk was tolerable, but let's now take that to triathlon. Being one that sweats easily anyway, the humidity is drawing fluid out of my system faster than I can replace it. I run with a fuel belt that allows me to carry two small bottles of fluid with me to help, but these last around 5 miles. Either I'm going to have to HTFU and start running with 4 bottles or I'm going to have to keep running into convenience stores to buy a drink during my run. I never mind the break, but the last I checked, they don't allow breaks during a race.

So far, majority of my training is done pre-work during the week so the temps aren't so bad and I'm able to rehydrate through out the day thanks to the work-sponsored bottles of Powerade Zero. Between that and green tea, I'm keeping our supplier busy.

This week is the 1/2 IM training race. As mentioned before, I'll be going in with tired legs per the plan. I'm interested to see how I will do especially with pacing and race planning. It's always a good idea to have a well developed race plan for nutrition and pacing. This weekend will help me determine what my limiters are and where I need to do some work. I'm going to bet that it's on the run, but hopefully a smart pace on the bike, will enable me to finish strong.