Hot Weather Training

The Boston Marathon is on April 19th, a time of year when the weather is completely unpredictable. If it turns out to be a cold day, I'm ready. Rainy -- who cares? Of course, we all know that the problem is that is could be hot. Last weekend, I ran a marathon on a day that hit 70 (gasp!), and I got the picture. If it had gone to 80, it would have been a problem.

Now, I'm not a guy that's going to just roll the dice. So I grabbed a flight to a Caribbean island (I can't release the name) that is just 20 miles north of Venezuela. Here I'll train in the heat in order to be ready. Sure, some would say that I'm taking a vacation with my family when I should be training for the marathon, but I'm calling it my family tagging along on a training trip.

This morning was my first run in the heat, and ouch -- it was tough. I thought that heading out at 7:30 AM would protect me from too much sun and heat, but I was mistaken. With two miles to go on a six mile run, I was worried about sunburn and dehydration. The main concern though, was that I was sluggish (dying) from start to finish. The heat just sucked the get-up-go right out of me.

After I got back, I was forced to indulge my family with a day of lying on the beach, snorkeling and fine dining. If that's what it takes to get the training in, then that's what I'll do.

Tomorrow, I'll go out earlier. Hopefully, it will be cooler and my body will have acclimatized somewhat. If not, I may have to move at least some of training indoors (!).