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I prefer running when it's cold. Is it because I started running in January? Is it because I grew accustomed to the cool weather during those first few months (an instrumental time when you’re trying to decide if a new practice is something you want to continue for the long term)?
(For the sake of clarity, let me be more specific when I say that I prefer running in the cold: I’m not talking about sub-zero temperatures. I’m referring to the concept of cold in northern Virginia. Also keep in mind that it hardly ever snows here during the winter.)
The reason I like running in the cold is because I don't enjoy being ultra-sweaty. When it’s cold, there isn’t nearly as much sweat involved. If I’m sweating, I want it to be due to exertion -- not just because the temperature and humidity are so torturous that the sweat starts to pour just because I’ve dared to step outside.
I'd much rather run with my ears covered -- and gloves on my hands, and being able to see my breath, and with a runny nose, and dealing with numb thighs and torso (because the clothes I was wearing in the dead of winter weren't quite thick enough sometimes) -- than run in the heat. So I guess that's saying something.
My body heat tends to rise quickly, which is one of the physical changes I noticed after I started working out regularly last year. This past winter I only wore a heavy jacket to work on a small number of occasions; on most days I wore a light jacket and gloves when I walked to the Metro in the mornings because I warmed up so quickly.
I mention these factors because it’s pretty freakin’ hot outside right now, and I find running in the heat to be quite miserable. I’m fine with temps in the 70s, but the 80s are pushing it. The temps in this area have been in the 90s since this past weekend, which means I've stopped running outside while the sun is shining. The heat has wreaked havoc on my routine, and I’m bummed.
So what are my options?
I belong to a gym, so there’s always the option of a treadmill. The thing is though, I'm not a big cardio-machine fan. If given the option, I'd much rather be outside. I didn’t mind using machines when I first started going to the gym last summer, but once I discovered how much faster the time flies by when I'm outside? Every minute spent on a machine inside seems almost torturous.
(Another factor with using a treadmill is that my current gym isn’t as close as I'd like, and traffic in northern Virginia is unpredictable from day to day. I’ll be reconciling this particular factor pretty soon though, once my current gym contract is up and I switch to a gym that's closer to where I live -- but right now proximity still plays a role.)
If I want to continue running outside, another option is to go during a different time of day when it’s not so hot. (My normal running time is right after I get home from work, around 6:30pm, and sometimes earlier in the day on the weekends.) This would mean altering my schedule to accommodate running during the early morning or late evening.
Problems: For months, almost every day, I used to get up at 6am to work out on an elliptical machine. I got used to it, but I never liked it. I try to do stuff now that I actually like to do, at a time of day that works for me -- and I really don’t want to change that. Running at night is another idea, but I’m afraid my motivation at that time of day would be greatly diminished (not to mention the increased risk of harassment). I did go out last night around 8:45pm, just as a test. Even though the sun had gone down, the air was still hot and stuffy -- so running at night might not work out that much better anyway.
Oh, what do to, what to do? I guess my best course of action is to try the treadmill again. Since it won’t take me as long to drive to the gym pretty soon, I might not curse the machine quite as much if
