All Hot, Barely Bothered
The training wheels are off my ultrarunning regimen. Back-to-back long runs? Yes, please. Double run days? Gladly! Pushing the pace midday in 100 degree temps? My pleasure… sorta.
The heat training I’ve been experiencing has been a great indicator of my body’s ability to adapt. Six weeks ago I began layering in my winter gear for an hour or two around the track each week — part of my build-up for the Howl at the Moon 8 Hour Ultra in August — and by the time the real heat wave came last week, I was pleasantly surprised at my body’s ability to withstand the suffocating elements.
That doesn’t mean I particularly enjoyed suffering for three long hours on the 4th of July, soaked with my own sweat-Gatorade-Gu filth and tattooed with Jeff-addicted horse flies; but it does mean that I was able to keep pushing through, moving one foot in front of the other, even when my body was uncooperative.
Curiously, the mild torture sessions have increased my brain power. My mind is overriding my body. Hot damn! That’s an accomplishment all on its own!
When everything becomes immensely hard, when I’m breaking down, when I’m ready to call it quits… I just keep going anyway. I think to myself, it could always be worse.
And believe me, it can always be worse.
No matter how hard I think I’m pushing, nor how difficult the task, I find motivation in knowing that someone else is out there pushing harder, suffering more. Some folks might find that sick and twisted, but sick and twisted gets results.
Bring the pain, Mother Earth. Bring it all! Your harsh servings of spirit-breaking elements might be hard to withstand at first, but I’m gonna figure you out, or at least drown myself in electrolytes trying.
TheRunFactory.com 
Fortunately, I bailed for the 4th and the two days that followed, so I wasn’t around for the worst of it. But I did put in some consecutive 10-milers in the humidity and let’s just say, it’s the most tired I’ve ever been at mile 7 of anything.
Good to hear you’ve mind-over-matter’d your way out of it, because I still very much hate the heat (to not even get into the fact that it’s only getting worse every year).
Anyway, enjoy the Chinatown race tomorrow! Always a pleasure reading your posts.
July 13, 2012 at 11:21
Thanks, Dan! Yes, tomorrow is gonna be a long day of running… 5K first then running around in circles all day in the sun!
July 13, 2012 at 13:15