4th o' July

21 days late in posting this.  I could say that's how long it took me to recover from the 4th of July 4 miler.  But i'm not that big of a baby.  Honestly it was the most humid, miserable 4 miles of my life.  I tried to be awesome and "warm up" with Dave, jogging around the start to break a sweat.  And break a sweat I did. Everyone was drenched just from standing at the starting line, just waiting for the damn race to start. 

It was a nice, short, 2 mile loop out and back. The race itself was very well put together, organized, and they had lots of snacks and drinks at the finish.  Ok, i'm done being positive.  I never want to have to do anything like that race again.  They started us in "waves" a minute or so apart.  I was up in the first wave with Dave in the beginning, then I chicked out and went a few waves back.  Big mistake.  The first half mile or so was a narrow, paved trail that was virtually impossible to pass anyone on.  I was in a giant cluster of moms with strollers, kids in sketchers, and people like me who felt cool to be faster than other people but frustrated because we couldn't pass them (even though the people we were faster than were moms in strollers).

All in all, it was a wonderful way to start out our Independance Day celebration.  If you're into waking up at 4:30, sweating half your body weight, and wanting to pass out all before you've even had a chance to eat breakfast.  Oh, running, how I love you.

Arm Coolers

From Dave:  If you had a chance to watch last years Ironman world championship in Kona you were probably wondering why some of the pros were wearing arm warmers in the blistering heat of the island, and if you don't know what arm warmers are, you might have been wondering "what are those things on their arms?" Or if your as crazy as me and watched it online live, you got to hear the announcer repeatedly get corrected by his partner for calling them "arm warmers."

Well lately it seems there is a new craze going around, and for good reason, and its all about the wonderful "Arm cooler." It looks and fits exactly like an arm warmer if your familiar, just a sleeve you pull on to your arm that fits below your armpit down to your wrist. Except unlike and arm warmer, an arm cooler is made with thinner material that promotes cooling. Being in Arizona where its 90 degrees at 7 am i thought this would be worth a shot to experiment with. There are a few brands that make them but being a fan of Zoot i went with them. For $35 at Triple Sports in Scottsdale you can get a pair.

 Besides being partial to Zoot, i went with them because they have a unique "ingredient" to their design. These arm coolers have xylitol woven into the material. not too sure what this does exactly because you can pick up xylitol as an alternative  sweetener to sugar at Hi-Health. Kind of like Splenda or stevia. Xylitol is typically used to sweeten gums. Zoot calims that the Xylitol is used to discharge the thermal radiation. Fancy talk yes, but i didn't care, i was curious what this sweetener fused arm cooler would feel like.
 Once you throw a pair on you will immediately notice a cooling sensation all over yuor arms, kind of similiar to the "icy" part in "Icyhot", feels pretty unique. once wind is rushing over them however, that is when you start to notice why they are called arm coolers, but its not until you get your arms coolers wet that you begin to feel the freeze! These things are pheonominal when wet. The claim is that they lower the temperature 5.4 degrees on your arms, but to me it seems like 20 degrees when wet. and the wetter and more air movement, the colder. I cant wait to try these things on my bike.

 The color of these things is white, a nartural heat deterent, and the besides being "coolers" they are 50UPF so they block the sun from damaging the skin. So the AZ sun can do as it pleases, but your arms are going to feel like money. Im just waiting for them to make a whole jump suit out of this stuff! They also had a little head cap that you can wear under your helmet for cycling at Triple Sports, if you were interested. All in all i recommend these to anybody that doesn't like the heat.......aka everybody, especially with how intense some of the temps can get around here. Heres a quick review of what and why you need to get these:

• 50 UPF (Built in sunblock)
• Laced with Xylitol
• Literally keeps your arms cool
• Keeps your arms freezing when wet
• Fairly inexpensive  $35
• The fit is amazing
• Makes you look cool (even if you aren't)

From Kym: I have this thing where my body doesn't regulate its temperature very well.  I over heat, turn beet red, and dehydrate VERY quickly.  The Southwest wasn't exactly my best choice for living, but I love it here so I deal.  Unfortunately, during the summer, you can only get up SO early to beat the heat.  The further into the summer you get, there's less "beating the heat" and more "heat beating me."  5am is a good time of day to start a run: you still have the heat but at least the sun isn't beating down on you making you start to seriously consider jumping into the carp/catfish/dead body/miscellaneous infested Canal water. 

To be honest I was skeptical of the arm coolers.  Along with zero heat tolerance, I also feel SUPER claustrophobic if I have to run in anything more than a tank top and shorts.  I'm that crazy girl running in the middle of winter in gloves, a beanie, thick socks, and a tank top.  Not because I'm trying to show off my sexy triceps, mostly because I feel like I'm going to suffocate if I have to wear sleeves.  So the thought of wearing super tight long sleeves in the middle of an Arizona summer was less than appealing to me.  But I figured I'd try it.  Starting out, I wasn't thrilled.  They felt ok, I just knew that further into the run I was going to get annoyed and end up ripping them off anyway.  Thennnnnnnn.... I got water on them. 

*insert angel music here*

The air against the sleeves while running was seriously magical.  I wanted to cover my entire body in this stuff.  It was one of the hottest mornings of the year to date and for the first time it didn't feel like running around in the Devil's armpit.  I initially covered the entire sleeves, top to bottom, with water from a water fountain.  After they mostly dried off, I just poured a little ice water from my fuel belt onto the insides of my elbows (what the heck is that part of the body called??) and it was heavenly. The whole time I was running, I thought: Why doesn't anyone make running shirts out of this stuff?? I'd be willing to pay the (probably fairly high) price.  I can't imagine what these things feel like on a bike.  Can't wait to find out. 

And since David gets all fancy with the bulleting, here's my super cool list of why these arm coolers are SO worth the price:

• They keep you from dying of heat exhaustion (if you're staying on top of water drinking)
• If you're running super slow, they make you look like a bad-A and people will just assume you're on mile 20 even if you just left the house 10 minutes ago
• You feel like you're running with peppermint gum on your arms (minus the sticky)
• They really DO work

  I won't be going without these things all summer.  If you have any heat intolerance or have been trying to make an excuse of "it's just TOO hot to run"...... you've officially lost your excuse.  Get these things and get out there.  Just remember, having these WILL NOT make up for water intake.  Never run in the summer without your fuel belt/some sort of water carrying device.  Heat stroke is NOT fun and once you have it once, the odds of you suffering it again are highly likely.  Stay safe, stay cool, and stay HYDRATED!!!!

therunningdiaries.