Summer decided it was about time to heat up the southwestern BC coast today and I actually was able to run for the first time this year in temperatures warmer than about 20C or 70F. It actually was in the upper 20's (80-ish) when I ran at 4:00 (I know it sounds pretty tame compared to Utah's summer temps but what can I say I am getting soft living on the BC coast). From my previous post I suggested that day 10 of a new cycle of consistent training is always brutal, well today was day 9 and the run proved brutal. There are several reasons for this. First I hadn't hydrated properly today even though I knew it was going to be toasty. I opted out of bringing a water bottle because I wanted to get some heat training without water to stretch me mentally and physically. Lastly I am running on tired legs, nine days without a break and averaging between about 7 and 10 miles a day. So I had set myself up for a real can-kicker. Immediately I knew I was in trouble when I noticed a stretch of trail that typically takes me about 7:30 to run, actually took me 8:10 to run today. Forty seconds slower for a mile is a significant decrease in speed, additionally my effort level seemed much more intense. I bit the bullet and began to push my way up the ferns to the Irvine climb. My legs revolted! I was barely able to maintain a shuffle so slow even an elderly person with a walker could pass me. My mouth was already dry and felt like there was sand in there, but I decided to persevere and kept in mind it was the first warm day in Victoria this year. I finally summited and sat at the top gasping for breath with sweat dripping off my nose and chin and my whole body glistened with beads of salty sweat. The drop down the bedrock buster was a joke, I found myself barely being able to control my descent, my legs were just knackered.
To make a long story short I ended up walking several portions of the climbs, and the sections that were flat, I just maintained a shuffle. This run was about enduring more than anything and I fought the urge to cut-off a summit here, or a traverse there, and gave it some serious stick-with-it-ness. It ended up being a mental victory and reminded me that I have to train and improve my mental game every bit as much as I have to focus on the physical aspect of my training.
Well Victoria looks like it is going to be in a heatwave for a while so I am going to get more opportunities to cook out in the sun and improve my heat tolerance. To celebrate this late Summer and the subsequent first hot run of the year I am going to include a video by IAMX's first album. The song is called "heatwave". I couldn't find any awesome concert footage of the song but none-the-less I had the song on my mind as the sweat poured off my face and the sun baked my back. It is a great song and will be my theme song for the next week at least based on the forecast!
4 comments:
I am just about to go out and run in the heat myself and I am VERY excited to see how I do. I think the mental part of running is the hardest part of all. You get your mind messed up and everything else goes to CRAP real quick. How did your body react when it was all said and done? Were they extra tired, or were you able to quickly recover?
After the run I chugged two liters of water and felt pretty good within an hour. One thing about running everyday is you seem to be able to recover much quicker than when you have breaks during the week. I am not sure if this is just me or everyone who runs daily experiences the same rapid rejuvenation. What you say about your mind going first and everything following is so true. I know sometimes if I convince my self to short cut my run I almost always totally crash and burn as soon as mind is made to cut a corner or throw the towel in early. If I hunker in there I sometimes find a second wind or a big boost that perhaps comes from knowing I am not giving up. For the most part I really am able to recover fast. The legs feel good within three hours and by the next morning I can't tell anything. Granted this changes the more mileage or speed work I do.
Thats awesome your body responds so fast, mine is getting there, but not nearly as fast as yours, though by the next day I am usually back to normal. One thing I read that you might want to try after running is drinking chocolate milk. Its supposed to be the best thing out there to help your body recover.
Chocolate milk and a banana is rocket fuel!!!
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