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KEEPING SAFE WHILE RUNNING IN THE RAIN

If you insist on training outdoors during the rainy season, be sure to take a few precautions to avoid injury.

With all the unusual weather patterns around the country, those who have been training on treadmills may have had enough indoor exercise by early spring and insist on being outside again.   Being in the real world training is especially important for those that are conditioning their bodies for marathons or races. Here are a few guidelines to help avoid injury when training in unique weather conditions:

• Purchase a parka or light water resistant cover to keep the warmth inside. Even a trash bag will do.
• Wear a head cover that will keep your head dry.
• You may wear leg tights. Do not wear heavy cotton sweats. Cotton sweats will just become water logged and weight you down.
• If you drive to a location to run, take along some dry clothes to wear home. Even though you are wet, you are still perspiring and your pores are open. Do not stand around and visit with running mates. Turn on your car heater and head for home. Take a hot shower and get the chill out of your body.
• For best results, run from your home or a location where you can shower and change into warm clothes. Time your run for a 30 or 45-minute trip. Remember to run half the time you allotted for yourself, turn around and head back.
• This is not a time to run tempo speed changes or race for time on your local running path.
• Run in safe, well-lighted areas at night. Do not run off the streets where you know flood conditions may appear at a moment's notice.
• Stay on sidewalks and refrain from running across flooded intersections.
• Always carry identification and the name of a person (and phone number) to notify in an emergency.

If you take these simple precautions, the rain doesn't just have to be for "ducks"!   Click here for more info and how to prepare for that marathon or race in the rain