11 Hot Weather Training Hacks

In the middle of summer, going out for a 3-Day training walk in the heat may be the last thing you’d like to do. But if you decide to venture out and get some training miles in on hot days, here are some tips/hacks that might make the sun-baked miles a little easier to bear.

First, a few obvious reminders, which I’m sure you already know, but we must repeat anyway…

Always wear sunscreen, with a minimum of SPF 30. Don’t forget to cover your ears, any exposed parts of your scalp (better yet, cover your head with a hat) and lips too.
Drink LOTS of water, and ideally, rotate water and sports drinks.
If your area is experiencing hazardous heat levels, or you just don’t feel right out in the high temperatures, stop. There will always be other times to walk, and risking your health and comfort are not worth it.
For ALL training walks, remain alert and aware of your surroundings. Try not to walk alone, or if you must, be sure someone knows where you’ll be.

Okay, on to the hacks!

Fill a water bottle halfway and freeze it on its side. That way, when you fill the rest with water, it’ll cool the water more uniformly, so you’ll get refreshing cold with every sip.
Fact: outside temperatures are typically coolest right before the sun rises. If possible—especially for longer walks—get out and start moving close to dawn. You’ll beat the heat and also finish early enough to still have a productive day (or a long and lazy day if that’s what you want).
Remember that an important part of your 3-Day training is cross-training (i.e., exercise that isn’t walking), and summer is the perfect time to throw some swimming, water aerobics, stand-up paddleboarding or rowing into your fitness routine.
When dressing for a warm weather walk, synthetic materials that draw moisture away from the body are better than 100% cotton. Also, light colors will deflect sunlight, keeping you cooler. (More info about best practices for what to wear is here.)
Did you know that bra coolers were a thing? They’re basically little cold packs that fit snugly into the underside of your bra, keeping your “girls” cool in warm conditions. Search online for several options.
Get a cooling wrap to wear on your neck. You can even make these wraps fairly easily; a Pinterest search of “cooling neck wrap” will show you dozens of how-to’s. Online retailers and drug stores also sell them.
Looking for a well-shaded route to walk? A quick internet search of “shaded walk [city name]” will come back with some good results that you may have never considered.
If you can’t walk in natural shade, you can make your own by carrying a sun umbrella.
Pick a route that has lots of places to stop and rest. Remember, when you’re walking in the heat, you should be drinking more water (and sports drinks, if possible) than usual, so plan your route to pass places where you can use the bathroom and refill your water. Convenience stores or coffee and fast food chains are good for this.
If you plan to take a long training walk in hot conditions, see if you can recruit a friend or family member to be your personal support vehicle. They can drive to meet you at points along your route with drink refills, fresh socks and sunscreen, and a cool car to sit in for a few minutes. Seeing those friendly faces can also help rally you onward when the heat may be tempting you to call it quits.
For no more than a few bucks, you can get a hand-held, battery-powered personal fan to carry. It won’t be quite the same as stepping into an air conditioned building, but if you’re out in the heat and there’s no natural breeze, that little bit of moving air from a fan can really feel nice on sweaty faces, arms and necks. Any drug store or superstore with a summer section will carry these, or you can easily find them through online sellers (is there anything you can’t get online?).

You can find a few other warm weather tips here. What else helps keep you cool when you’re walking in the summer?

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MORE Participant Center Tools That You Forgot (or Never Knew) Were There

For every 3-Day walker and crew member, their online 3-Day Participant Center is their headquarters for every last detail of their participation. We’ve blogged before about some of the best goodies that can be found on the Participant Center, from invaluable fundraising resources to tools for connecting with the rest of the 3-Day community.

Today, we’d like to point out just a few more of the incredible features of your 3-Day Participant Center that may have slipped off your radar.

Meet on Your Time – We encourage all 3-Dayers to attend an in-person meeting or workshop if possible (you can find one here), but we know that it’s not always easy or convenient to get to these meetings. If that’s the case, you can virtually “attend” a pre-recorded meeting to learn about different aspects of your 3-Day preparation, such as training and general event prep. These informative videos are available here.

Handbooks at Your Fingertips – If you’ve walked with us before, we don’t send you printed walker handbooks through the mail, but that doesn’t mean that these helpful guides have gone away. Handbooks for fundraising, training, event prep, team captains, training walk leaders and crew are available in electronic form in your Participant Center and at The3Day.org/Handbooks.

Checklist: Check – If you’re a list person, we have one for you right on your Participant Center home page. Scroll down the page and you’ll find a handy list of the most important things you can do to get your fundraising started. Each of the items can be handled right through your Participant Center; just click on the one you’d like to complete next, and when you’ve finished it, that item will be checked off for you! WhatToDoNext

Learn From the Best – On your Participant Center home page, look at the left side navigation menu. There are headings there for Top Fundraisers and Top Teams. If you’re looking for a little motivation with your own fundraising efforts, click through these names of participants who are crushing the fundraising game. You’ll be inspired by their stories and you may even get some ideas about great ways to personalize your and your team’s fundraising pages.

Fundraising Challenge Throwback!

Today, we’re giving you the mother of all #TBT fundraising posts. We’ve scoured our archives for Fundraising Challenges that we’ve posted over the last year or so, and we’ve got some of the best of them here. You can also find Fundraising Challenges going all the way back to 2014 here. 3DAY_2016_Social_Text_FundraisingChallenge_1

Remember Your Reasons – Use your fundraising requests as an opportunity to remind your donors exactly why we raise funds for Susan G. Komen®. Ask for a specific and meaningful amount (for example, you could ask for donations of $50, which could be used to help transport a patient to a treatment session or mammogram). Or simply share your story and remind people why you walk, and tell them that you’ll walk in honor or in memory of someone they love who’s been affected by breast cancer. For every donation you receive, tell them you’ll carry that person’s name with you, in tribute.

Let the Calendar Lead the Way – Your next fundraising idea could be as close as the calendar on your wall. Find inspiration from the date (if it’s 5/19, see if you can get 5 donations of $19), the year (can you reach your 2016 fundraising goal with donations of $20.16?) or even just the day of the week (make every Wednesday a “get me over the hump” day by asking donors to help you reach the next hundred-dollar level of your fundraising). Be creative about using unique days to grab your donors’ interest. For example, on 7/17 of last year, we issued this fundraising challenge:

Yay, America! – On Patriotic Holidays (Memorial Day, Flag Day, July 4^th, Election Day, etc.), ask your friends to make donations today in honor of their patriotic pride. How about $50, one dollar for every amazing American state?

Countdown! – A countdown is a great fundraising gimmick. You can ask for donations in the amount of how many days are left until you walk (you can find how many days you have left on the Home page of your Participant Center), or count down to some other important date, such as a birthday or a cancer-versary.

Anytime Ideas! – Some ideas are great no matter what time of year it is. Here’s one: set a timer for 30 minutes and see if you can get $100 in donations! Post the challenge on Facebook, blast an email out to everyone in your workplace, heck, you can even dig the change out of your car seats and couch cushions. Race against the clock and get to the goal! Or you can find more ideas or inspiration at any time of day or night by visiting the Fundraising Tools page of your Participant Center at The3Day.org/Fundraising or search for fundraising posts on the 3-Day blog.

Social Media Strategies – Most fundraising strategies can incorporate social media in some form, but sometimes you can use social media as the starting point. Start a tagging trend: tag three friends in a Facebook or Twitter post, and ask them each to donate $10 AND tag three of their own friends. Be sure to share your reasons for walking and don’t forget to share the link to your personal 3-Day fundraising page.

The 3-Day Spirit – Your participation in the boldest breast cancer event in history can inspire your donors to give. On your next training walk, see how long it takes you to walk a mile (for most folks, it’s about 20 minutes), then ask friends and family to make donations in that amount. Amp up the challenge by seeing if you can get 60 people to make those donations, one for each mile you’ll walk. You could also tell your donors that 3-Day walkers hit the pavement in rain or shine, and in the spirit of this all-weather attitude, ask your Facebook friends to make donations to you today in the amount of the high temperature wherever they are.

Use These Graphics! – From time to time, we’ve shared some snazzy fundraising graphics on social media, and you are absolutely welcome and encouraged to share them with your networks too!

1907501_10155701091610392_720080457638824751_n Get your friends, family and neighbors involved with bottling up spare change. Try it this weekend and let us know on Monday how you did!

11846640_10155885576165392_5183736746814051619_n Does your community have any big events coming up? If there’s a parade, festival or concert that will draw a lot of people, see if you can rent a port-a-potty (a pink one, if possible!) to set up at the event site. You can sell “special access” wristbands which will allow guests to tend to their…ahem…”business” without the typical lines or “yuck” factor that comes with more heavily trafficked commodes.

11959996_10155939915235392_7479659791687598527_n Set yourself and some friends up at a busy intersection in your community with pink boots, and when cars stop for red lights, go around and collect donations at the drivers’ windows.