Running Fun With Fountains in a Heat Wave

Reading Time: 4 minutes
Today I had the pleasure of going for a run early. I had planned to run at 07:30 to finish right as the shops were opening but I felt too lazy, so I was at the shops by 08:20 and running a few minutes later. I was thinking “Oh it’s still early, so I don’t need to run with water. That was a mistake. What wasn’t a mistake is choosing a course that passes by a number of fountains.

There are three benefits to fountains. The first is that they’re usually in every village, they’re fresh, and you don’t need to carry water. This means that you can drink a little which is important, but more importantly you can immerse your arms, splash your neck, fill your hat with water and then empty it on your head, and more importantly, you can drench your clothes for the run from one fountain to the next.

I ran from Signy Centre to Paléo to see the preparations, before running to Trelex, pronounced Very Ugly. Here I filled my hat with water, poured it on my head, had a few sips, splashed myself with water before running up to the Parcour Vita course, before turning for Gingins, one gin, two gins. Here there is a large fountain, as well as a smaller one in the arcades. The smaller one is good for having a sip, and the big one is fantastic for drenching yourself. I splashed such a volume of cold mountain stream fountain water on myself that I actually cooled down enough to feel cold for a slither of time, before heating up again.

By the time I left Gingins I had completed the Runna goal, so I walked to Grens, and here there is a small fountain where you can easily get a sip of water, before walking the last two kilometres back to Signy Centre.

Going without water was a big mistake, but because every village has fountains that are still running I wasn’t in danger, but, later in the heat wave, when water restrictions come in, this could be costly. Having said this, Gingins and Borex have public toilets where you could get water, and restaurants, if you want to stop for a snack.

In future I will take a water bottle, even for a short run. I now see that a small water bottle, to fill at each fountain would be fine. I don’t need 600-800ml as I would use if I was walking.

Yesterday I went for a mid afternoon walk at the hottest time of the year and I splashed my arms, my front, filled my hat with water, and refilled my water bottle. I suspect some girls/women looked at me as if I was strange but I do this for two reasons. The first is that it’s free cooling so I might as well.

The second reason is that when I lived in a proper house, downstairs was around 21-25°c all year round, so during a heat wave I felt like I was coming home to a cavern. Now, in contrast I come back to a Minergie Oven. When it’s hot outside, a minergie building is very, very, very good at trapping heat, but it’s awful at letting go of that heat.

When I get home, in the Minergie building I can’t open windows, because if I let in the Canicule heat, it will be trapped for weeks. This means that during a canicule, a minergie building is as bad as a 1970s concrete apartment block, or even worse.

In an apartment block, and a minergie building, the best and most effective methods to cool are to splash yourself with water, and allow it to evaporate, or to go out for a walk or bike ride.

I have found this summer especially hard in the minergie building and I suspect that it is because with walking, you cool with the wind as you walk, and the same is true when you cycle. I suspect that when I run I generate a huge amount of heat that my body can’t evacuate once I get home, due to the building’s design.

That’s why water fountain cooling becomes critical. It is critical that I cool myself down before I get home. It’s good to cool down during the workout. The more I cool while I’m out, the better I cope later.

Advising people not to run in the heat is wise, but there are quick solutions to cool rapidly. When I was in Gingins I splashed myself with enough water to feel chilled, not just refreshed by the water. As a result I was cold for a few minutes. A sensation that is not easy to feel during a heatwave.

There is the notion that during a heat wave we should sit and swelter in apartments, and offices, and not do sports. I don’t think that’s smart. I think that it is the buildings where we spend most of our time that are providing us with the most heat stress.

Cycling, and walking we have a nice breeze. Running does heat us, but that’s where fountains play a critical role. If we splash and soak ourselves, we’re cooled quickly. When we get to our oven apartments we have reduced our core temperature enough for the flat to be less unbearable.

Thanks to the fountains my entire run was comfortable. Running earlier in the morning is good, as is planning a route that takes you by a river, fountains, or a lake. All three might make swimming possible.