It Was 107 In Dallas Today How the Hell Do You Do It?

I moved to Houston a few years ago. I've trained for one fall marathon and am currently training for another. I'd like to hear about how people handle the "leap of faith" of having to run slower in the heat and expecting to hit faster paces for their fall races. Do people do marathon pace workouts, only cut them a few miles short? Or do you just add about 10% to all your goal times during workouts?

ummm no you can't? Apparently you don't understand what THAT cold is like. You can only put on so much and be able to run normally. And that much is never enough. And there's this stuff called ice, and snow, that f*** up every run, because its always there, but you don't have to worry about that. And what part of I've run in 110 heat don't you get? I know, you've prolly ran in hotter. But you know what, hot's not that hard, we are warm blooded, hot feels better than cold. You sir, are a dumbass

Blaze wrote:

But you know what, hot's not that hard, we are warm blooded, hot feels better than cold. You sir, are a dumbass

Which is why so many snakes live in Alaska...

Wejo u pus.sy. U cant run. Grow a pair! America. Dallas is hardcore yall know it.

Billy Bob Jenking wrote:

Humidity, Wejo.

Humidity. It makes ALL the difference. I loved Death Valley when it was 115 and ZERO humidity. It felt like heaven, the heat got inside me and kept me cozy warm all day, never broke a sweat either when I was walking around.

Only West Texas can do that, well almost the same for me.

I used to live in New Mexico and before I moved there everyone said "it's a dry heat so it's not that bad." Well, I got there and it was that bad. It was damn hot! I sweated my balls off. And then it occurred to me. All this talk about dry heat being more tolerable doesn't make sense. You know what else is a dry heat? Fire!

Every weather thread a New Englander comes on and talk about how worse the weather here is in the winter and summer. I will, yet again, continue to try to erase this terrible myth: the winters here are tough (simply because it last so dang long), but very manageable and the summers are mild with a teeny bit of humidity on some days. I ran twice today and I really don't think it was over 80 degrees once (I ran at 9am and 5pm). I normally sweat like crazy, but on the evening run I was borderline dry. Sorry New Englanders, I had to tell the rest of the country the truth. Dallas weather is much worse.

I don't think people that have never lived in the south or in Texas could ever really realize just how bad it can get.

There is a huge difference in mindset between having a few hundred degree days to run in here and there and having 4 months straight of 95+ temps. People from up north I don't think can realize just how mentally draining getting out there for 4 or 5 months of blazing hot running can be.

It is way different down here! Up north you get some hot weather for 5 or 6 days and then its reasonable again. Down here once it hits mid May you ain't coming out of it until mid October. Most summers I don't even feel like there is really one particular day that just kills me. Its the fact that there are about 120 days in a row that gradually wear me down and turn me insane!

I will addmitt to hating the cold. If you are a serious runner it is much easier to train well in negative degree temps than it is to train well in 100+ with some humidity.

Just my 2 cents.

orbitboy wrote:

It's a lot more humid in Austin than Dallas.

Are you sure? Dallas gets slightly more rain than Austin. 33.7 inches vs 32.1.

In the mid 90s, I was so unfortunate that I had to live close to Waco, TX for 1 f*cking year. Besides all that Texasans' attitude, which I grew to hate, I had to deal with the worst running weather I could imagine.

Just before arriving to Texas, I spent 3 weeks in Tunisia where they have got a really hot weather (well it's Africa, after all). I could run early in the morning and later at night. I was OK, doing my miles and also harder workouts. But once I got out of the plane in Dallas as an exchange student, who had never been to States, I literally stumbled from the heat and humidity. Next morning I went for a run at 5:30, and had to walk last half mile of my 6 mile easy run (mind you, I was a 8:14 3000m runner at that time, with very good endurance). I passed out in the shower, and half an hour later I was dragged out by my "host father", naked and uncoscious. You can imagine how embarassed I was once I came to my senses.

It took me 3 weeks of late night runs to be able to join my HS team in XC practices, which started at 3PM (only Texas dumb coaches can come up with the idea of running on the sun when the temps are over 100 in the shade).

That year I ran all my races slower by a huge margin and I sweared to God, that if I had to run one more day in that crappy state, I would quit running.

Few years later I came back to US to run in different state, which was uncomparable, since I never had to run in the temps above 80 degrees. Running in Texas really sucks and I would take a freezing rain (which we get a lot in the late fall in my country) any day over a run in 100F with 80% humidity.

I just try to deal with the heat. Pace doesn't matter just the time. If i can't run more than 2 miles one day... Rest

I grew-up and lived most of my life in Kansas. It can be brutally hot (110+) and well below zero. However, we moved to the Dallas area last week and I have never felt heat like it is here. The sun beats down unrelentingly. My wife and I ran this morning at 5:45 and I was soaked after just 15 minutes. I can't wait until there is some relief from the heat, unfortunately it looks like it will be October when that happens.

welcome to Dallas, summer does suck, but mid October to mid May is pretty nice.

Not to rub it in here, but I live on the coast just south of San Francisco. My mid-morning run was during 58 degree temps with 78 percent humidity, overcast, no wind, and felt awesome. I think they had similar weather at last Sunday's San Francisco Marathon. This is probably the best year-round climate for running as it never gets very cold or very hot, no snow, hurricanes, etc. We do get 25-30 inches of rain in winter and if you don't like running hills this isn't the place for you. Otherwise, come to NorCal to beat the summer heat and humidity, or winter cold and snow.

Living in the Past wrote:

orbitboy wrote:

It's a lot more humid in Austin than Dallas.

Are you sure? Dallas gets slightly more rain than Austin. 33.7 inches vs 32.1.

Yes, I'm sure. That's what makes the weather in Austin so diabolical. It's THAT humid, yet it never effing rains! It rains in Houston. It rains in Corpus and New Orleans. Not here in Austin. It rained practically every day the first half of last summer, then nothing at all until like December or something. I think the first cold front last year was Thanksgiving-ish.

I'm not so sure man. I live in Austin and there are definitely times when I'm convinced its the hottest and most humid city on this continent. However, I don't think its any more humid or unpleasant than Dallas. I know first hand that the humidity here in Austin is a walk in the park compared to Houston or any other Texas coast city.

If you compare the summertime monthly averages between Austin and Dallas, they are pretty much the same. Within a degree or two for daily highs and the overnight lows I think are typically just a touch higher in Dallas. Throw in that the rainfall is pretty similar and I don't see any reason to think Dallas is any less humid.

Overall, Austin and Dallas (and the rest of the eastern side of texas) are all miserable in the summer any way you slice it. Enjoy!

I live in Austin, too. The weather this morning wasn't that bad. Beginning around 10:30, I did some bike intervals at the Veloway (5 x 3 miles in 8:00 avg., with three minutes recovery). That's 22.5 mph average, with some hairpin turns.

On Tuesday of last week, I tried the same workout at the same location and had to quit after the second interval, which I could only manage in 8:36! But it was really humid and about 100 degrees last Tuesday. This morning it was a bit less humid and only 92 degrees. Eight degrees cooler and a modest drop in humidity can make a huge difference in how you perform.

My point is that this town wouldn't be so bad if we had more 92-degree days in July and August. It seems that the impact of heat and humidity becomes exponential as you cross 100 degrees. But then, there's always the option of training in the morning this time of year, when it's in the upper 70s.

And BTW, I grew up in Dallas but moved to Austin as soon as I could.

Living in the Past wrote:

And BTW, I grew up in Dallas but moved to Austin as soon as I could.

Same here!

I also think it beats you down cumulatively as the summer season progresses. September can be the worst! I ran a 10k in Austin in October the same weekend of the Chicago Marathon debacle, and it sure felt like mid-August to me!

I don't know if I would know how to deal with that.58 degrees would seem like the artic right now!