I've lived in Minnesota my whole life. Besides possibly North Dakota and northern Alaska (Anchorage is warmer during the winter than where I'm from), I'm not sure there is a colder place in the United States during the winter months. New England doesn't even compare. Then again, I think I would prefer running in -60 degree windchill over 102 degrees with a heat index of 112.
Please, big difference between hot & humid summers and cold winters. You can always put on more clothes when it's cold, but you can only go down to shorts (and a bra, for women) when it's brutally hot & humid.
I'm a transplanted Minnesotan spending his first summer in Texas (Austin)--this is sick and twisted heat. I can deal with heat up to 95 but once the temperature tops 100, I put my run off until 9 or 10 at night. Yeah, it sucks for my social life but I can run, at least...though my quality has been suffering. I s'pose that in the coming years, I'll be planning on doing marathons in April/May back up north for optimal form/fitness--like hell will I be able to get a great season of running in the early fall, sadly
GET OUT OF TEXAS IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT! LEAVE US TO MELTING PAVEMENT AND WHATABURGER.
WEJO, YOU SUCK FOR STIRRING THIS POT OF HOT AND COLD. YOU KNEW THE NORTH WAS GOING TO JUMP IN.
txRUNNERgirl, please don't try to be funny...it does not work for you
Weather Exaggerator wrote:
Interesting... I checked the weather across the entire state and the closest I could come to your description was 101 with an index of 112. That's pretty hot - there's no need to add a couple numbers just to "make sure" people know it's hot there.
Maybe you're not very good at checking facts out... At the bottom is a link to the one about a mile from my house. 105.4 as a high today, thanks.
I lived in San Antonio and St. Louis before I lived here. I could handle the hot stuff in St. Louis, but in San Antonio, I didn't feel like it was the heat, so much as the sun beating down on you. The stupid times when I'd go out and run in the middle of the day, in summer, I felt like I was cooking.
So, I ran at night instead.
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KARCONWA6shit, ask steve magness. the only guy on the list of sub-4:02 milers in such a hot ass climate. the guy should be a legend just for maintaining 14mi a day in that weather.
and he ran during some of hottest times of the day (12pm). crazy.
I went to school with a lot of northeasterners in VA. The first couple weeks of running were always so liberating even during the standard training camp grind while the others on my team would complain about the "heat." It's really quite easy to forget why you run in the first place when the dew point gets over 75 and doesn't ever come f*cking down and only is worse in the f*cking morning. The heat shatters the illusion that running is an intrinsic pleasure--when it's really, really hot, it really, really sucks. Running an easy pace puts the heartrate up to "hummingbird." Any training will not be nearly as effective as it would be in a more comfortable climate. And the sole benefit of all that crappy training is acclimatizing, which would be beneficial if cross country season ended in early September.
If I had started running in the deep South, I'm quite certain I would have quit long ago.
I bet for short sprinters the weather is pretty sweet. 80F-100F? Please sir, I want some more.
The only way you can do it is to throw away the watch and don't pay attention to pace. The heat/humidity can quickly humble you. Everything is done by feel during the summer. Although, it does give you a good feeling when your tempo times drop by minutes w/ out any more effort when you finally get a nice cool day in October or November. In a way it's similar to going to altitude. You have to follow the same principles of adjusting everything.
The normal runs you can get used to if you keep them at an hour or less. Long runs are what kill. They take so much more out of you and take much longer to recover from, then if you did them in decent weather. That's one reason why doing high mileage singles here is pretty much impossible.
The night runs are the best. I normally start mine around 7:30pm. It's not as humid as in the mornings and it cools down as you go, instead of the other way around.
How do you deal with it? You just do. I run at 4:30 every morning. Sure it's humid, but you either decide you can deal with it or you quit and take up bowling or something.
How do northeastern runners deal with their winters? Same way. They just go run.
Don't question it. Just run. Is it hot? Big deal. Just go run. Quit whining.
Blaze wrote:
I live near Chicago. I had like an entire week this winter with windchill bringing it to -30 and even lower. I've ran in 110 heat. I understand how heat can be difficult, but winters around here are 10X worse. Cold sucks
Spoke like someone that has never run in weeks on end 95+ degree temps.
You can always put on more clothes but there is only so much you can take off.
deuchebaggery wrote:
Blaze wrote:I live near Chicago. I had like an entire week this winter with windchill bringing it to -30 and even lower. I've ran in 110 heat. I understand how heat can be difficult, but winters around here are 10X worse. Cold sucks
Spoke like someone that has never run in weeks on end 95+ degree temps.
You can always put on more clothes but there is only so much you can take off.
Dude I've lived in Phoenix in the summer and New England in the winter. Bottom line is no whether is worse than 30 degree rain in Feb. I would take 120 degree heat over freezing rain. Running wise it is by far and away the worst kind of whether.
I usually run 90 min. at 7:00AM and 30 min. at 7:00PM...this has actually been a really easy summer to run in, it's been around 100-104 for the high around here (100 miles east of dallas)
most people 'love' where they were raised. that is the thing though, you grow up, you move out, you see other places and you learn that were you grew up was probably average (unless you are from San Diego, SF, maybe NYC except for the lack of nature) and there are good and bad parts everywhere.people crack me up on here... they've really lived one place yet they swear it is the greatest place in the world
txRUNNERgirl wrote:
I love Texas, but I'm fairly certain I won't stay here.
Wejo, you get a 6/10.
Yes, the "co-founder" of the site is guilty of trolling. He started a thread about a state that get's bashed a fair bit here in hopes of starting a fight. You get a 6 because, inevitably, the hoped for fight did in fact break out.
Wejo = Troll
Texas runner wrote:
How do you deal with it? You just do. I run at 4:30 every morning. Sure it's humid, but you either decide you can deal with it or you quit and take up bowling or something.
How do northeastern runners deal with their winters? Same way. They just go run.
Don't question it. Just run. Is it hot? Big deal. Just go run. Quit whining.
This is the best post on the thread. If you're committed to your running, then shut up and go run. If you can't handle hot weather, then give up running and take up some indoor pursuit.
ok new england wrote:
I've lived in Minnesota my whole life. Besides possibly North Dakota and northern Alaska (Anchorage is warmer during the winter than where I'm from), I'm not sure there is a colder place in the United States during the winter months. New England doesn't even compare. Then again, I think I would prefer running in -60 degree windchill over 102 degrees with a heat index of 112.
New England has the worst of both seasons. While not comparing to Texas in the heat department, NE has awfully hot and humid weather in the summer for the latitude. In the winter, obviously pretty bad. However, when you combine both winter and summer it is one of the worst summer/winter places.
"Texas is only the 7th most popular state in terms of letsrun.com audience"
So out of curiosity, can you post the demographics of the letsrun audience?
I'd be curious to see which states are over-represented.
fortworthrunco wrote:
Wejo,
It's simple.
No running from April till the end of October.
Seriously though. It's hard. Any serious Tx runner will tell you that. I've trained with some of the better ones. The 28:min guy the 13:30 guy, the 3:51 guy...all right here in NTx. and all during the shitty heat of the summer where the temps drop to 88 at 1am. That's really how we got by. If the week called for 140 then it was run at 8am end at 8:59, jump in the pool followed at 9. Then the evening run was between 11 and 1 am which ranged from 10-18 miles. For the serious Tx runner who will read this you know what I'm talking about. Not to take anything away from you men and women in the North b/c the cold sucks. I've busted through a plate of ice that took me down mid calve and didn't feel from the knee down for at least an hour after the run. It sucks.
But the truth is...is that you do it 'cause you do it. We're runners. No one understands that. If we're good at it then we want to be great. The sad thing is is that few and far between get to greatness but you kick your ass anyway to find out if you can get there. 5 or 6 years later you find out you're not going to get there and try to fix your life and debt you accumulated trying to get there. Shit...it was a good time though. It was 108 by the way Wejo.
This sounds about right. When I was in college in Austin, I ran at midnight because I wasn't a morning person. It was kinda fun, because you basically have the streets to yourself. No traffic. No that I'm married and woring, I have to run in the morning, around 6:30. The longer the run, the earlier I have to rise.
The thing I've never understood is how people build up for fall marathons in this weather. If I was a marathoner in Texas, I'd strictly run Spring Marathons! I loathe the heat, perform badly in it generally. To me perfect running weather is 45 degrees and overcast. Right about where you have to decide whether you need a long sleeve shirt or not.
I have in-laws in Minnesota, and it's always fun to go up there and run, even at Christmas. That being said, I don't know how those people deal with that cold all winter. Sure, you can put on more clothes, but then you still sweat like crazy under all of it, and have a runny nose every day. Seems like you'd get sick all the time.