Do you like the heat? I hate it...Here's why!

Over the past few years, I have been traveling across the country trying to figure out where to live. Not only that, but I also like to try new things. So over the past 5ish years, I have had numerous things that made me realize I hate the heat. And not just uncomfortable, and I can deal with it like I did when I was younger, but more feel like I am going to pass out, heat is the worst, type of situation.

Let me start with our trip to Austin Texas...

I grew up on the East Coast of the US. If you have been there, you know it's pretty darn hot and humid. I lived in New England, the south, Florida, and lots of places in between. It's one of those things that I used to just deal with. Put some shorts and flip flops on, or even jeans and a sweatshirt in Florida, because they don't understand how to use air conditioning, but I was fine. I would eventually get inside and be alright. Fast forward to adulthood and my husband and I went to Austin, Texas, in November. We enjoyed walking everywhere, and it was just un-walkable. It didn't have that humidity that the East Coast has, but it was brutally, deathly, HOT! Needless to say, we loved Austin, but it was too darn hot for me. I didn't even want to go outside....AT ALL. I did a workout with a friend, came home, threw up. I didn't even feel like I could workout anymore, I didn't quite figure out why I hated this heat so much until we went to Washington.

In Washington, I met a co-worker and friend who was into yoga and since my husband likes yoga, I figured I would give it a shot again. By the way, I am not a yogi. I have given it a pretty solid chance, but it's just not for me. Regardless, we went to bikram yoga, or hot yoga. It was my first time doing hot yoga, and I made it about 30 minutes into the hour or 90 min session. At the 30 minute mark, I had to lie down and I was so hot I just felt like I was dying. I didn't have a headache, I didn't feel dizzy, I just felt beyond hot with no escape. I eventually had to leave the room, went and stood outside in the cold rain in a t-shirt and shorts. It took me about 20 minutes to feel almost normal. We went and tried yoga again, and this time, we didn't sit under the heater, and I actually didn't even make it 30 minutes. I had to do the same thing. I felt drained, beat-up, and defeated.

It was during this recovery time that I remembered having heat stroke when I was a little kid at sports camp. I remember not wanting to drink anything and having to go home early because I had overdone it. This is exactly what I felt like, but I didn't make the connection because other than just drained, I felt ok. However, this connected with all the other experiences I have had in the past 10ish years and I realized, I just don't do well with heat. I HATE heat. My body doesn't like it. I think there is another component to this, but to keep things short, that's it. Due to all this, and not having a good response to heat for at least the past 5 years, I am scared of the heat. I can deal with sharks, waves, no wind, etc,...but being stuck in the heat, with no escaping scares me. 

Maybe I need to incorporate this into my training, but this is something I need to be aware of and I am glad that I got the chance to remember it when I saw the boat the other day. I even have a medical background and know about heat stroke, but it's crazy when it is happening how you don't think about it because I didn't feel that bad. Now I know!

HEAT = SAD AMANDA