Friday, June 26, 2009

the amazing power of air quality

so atlanta entered august temperatures a few weeks ago while still in june. spring skipped as usual and pop - summer. not just summer but 100% humidity, dense air quality, 90-100 degree heat daily.

this heat quality made for an interesting roller coaster ride of a training week.

just some background - my running mileage has increased to 5-6 miles per run; bike is hovering between 25 and 30 miles. on brick training (the bike to the run on weekends), i have done 20 bike, 3 mile run.

so this past saturday, the ride was 26, and the run - well....let's just say my body stopped moving after .5 miles. are you kidding me. yup. .5 miles - that is 1/2 a mile. ok - body froze. it simply did not move anymore. lungs tied up solid. nothing left.

so, lets see shall we. ok, i will walk for 30 seconds, then begin the run. nope, did not work. for the first time i got paralyzed in my workout and literally bonked. all due to the heat. i have done this workout in the weekends before not effortlessly - but it was not painful. it was able to be done.

later in the week, i was unable to do an early morning run, so went out at lunch hour. at about noon i departed just for a quick 4 miler to be done in 35 - 40 minutes. it was a sizzler, really. about 98 degrees. i made it 1 mile. body froze up, and would not move. i was really depressed and could not understand what the deal was. i was not empowered by this.

it was not until the next day, at my 6 a.m., 6 mile run that i put 2 and 2 together and realized my problem was really the heat. at 6 a.m. that day, it was in the high 70's and the sun was not really out strong, yet. 6 miles of hilly terrain accomplished in less than an hour in great strong spirits. now... that is what i am talking about.

now - how do we get this weather cooled down to help with training.

please don' t let this heat be around on race day - please!

tomorrow - brick training. 30 miles bike, 3 mile run. i think i need another dinner :)

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