This is not supposed to be a \"My summers are worse than your summers and therefore I\'m tougher than you\" thread. Nobody gives a sh*t. Let\'s try to help people out here.
I\'ve lived and ran in Birmingham and Nashville for the last ten years, the last 5 or 6 holding at least 70-80/week and these are a few of my tips/tricks.
1. I tend to run longer in the mornings and shorter in the evenings. I tend to feel like it\'s hotter and I feel worse in the evenings for some reason. Mornings (starting at about 7 AM) were usually 50-70 minutes and maybe some strides, and if you feel good a couple of days a week pick up the last 30-40 minutes and make a little tempo/steady state out of it. Don\'t force it, just let it come naturally IF YOU FEEL GOOD! Evenings were usually 20-30 minutes really easy and core/drills/strides/hurdle drills/ whatver you like to do. We would do these at like 7-8:30 while the sun was going down.
2. Run on time rather than distance when possible. You\'re going to run slower when it\'s hot and humid. Get over it and if you must time it, don\'t let running 7:30-8:00 miles or slower get you down. It doesn\'t matter. Think of running in the humidity like training at altitude. When it gets cooler, your times will start dropping, I promise.
3. Hydrate all freaking day. I prefer Gatorade. I\'ll drink half of it and then dilute it with water so I get more liquid out of each one.
4. Getting up that early doesn\'t give much time to eat, so I usually buy the Cliff Shot Bloks, the gummy things, and eat them right when I wake up and try to down a Gatorade before the run starts. The Clif Bloks have some that are margarita flavored and have a ton of salt in them, which is kinda gross first thing in the morning, but great once you start running.
5. Shaded Trails are your best friend in the summer, as is company. It makes running a lot more enjoyable if there are multiple people out there. Just make sure nobody tries to turn it into a race everyday, which is good advice year round actually.