I hate running in Florida
For the last year, I've lived in Florida. In this year, my training has been quite different than it did in Missouri (where I lived prior). Why? Read on.
Hot and humid
Of course I expected it to be hot but this has had an immense affect on my running. Missouri still got hot and humid during the summer but it wasn't for as long as in Florida. I live in the northern part of Florida so for 3 months it was in the 30s and 40s which is perfect weather for me, especially for running. The other 9 months it's hot and humid. In Missouri, it still got hot but was only for a couple months in the summer. So I have summer a half a year extra now.
So why does this matter? Do you get used to it? Current, I start running between 8am and 9am trying to get running before the heat of the day, except it's already hot and humid at that time. I have to take more breaks to rehydrate, within the first mile my hat is already soaked.
Today's run was 6 miles and I drank an entire gallon of water but I still achieved my goal. This is my Endomondo recording of today's running:
As you can see, I run in circles with each circle being just under a mile (for my training, I'm ok with rounding up). But each lap has a good sized hill and some smaller ones, this is the reason I do love running on a trail.
Type of soil
The type of soil is quite different between Missouri and Florida. In Missouri you would find a more clay like soil; in Florida it's a sandy soil. Florida's soil is much harder to run on as it's often more loose. The looser the soil, the more effort it takes to push off on which makes the run harder.
That big hill I run up on each lap is of this loose soil, I'm actually amazed that I'm able to run up it over and over and keep a decent pace. Along with the sandy soil, we have a ton of roots on top of the soil. I'm not sure if this is because of the soil and such or if the soil got washed away but I always have to look down to watch out for these roots. It's not just a trip hazard, it's also how you land on them if you do. If the front of your foot lands on it and you're not expecting it, expect for your momentum to be halted and be very hard to have a natural foot movement which can cause injuries. I definitely learned to not only watch for the natural holes in the earth.
Conclusion
So running in Florida has new challenges that I'm still trying to get used to. It is hard but luckily I've been able to have my determination to succeed motivate me.
