Heat training

Today we finally got a warm spring day.

I took full advantage of the heat by waiting until 11:00 to go out for my run. I drove out to the Coyote Ridge trailhead and overdressed. I wore my warmest, thickest pair of black tights, a long sleeved shirt, my thickest black hooded sweatshirt from the Leadville Trail 100 in 1992, and a black wind jacket with a fleece liner. I put the black hood over my head and covered that with my hazmat hat. I took a running pack with 3 water bottles, and headed out on the trail up and over Coyote Ridge.

I did an hour and a half on the trail and felt great. I was carrying a heavy load but my legs felt good, no evidence I ran 32 miles yesterday with 26 of them downhill on pavement.

After my run, which lasted an hour and a half, I drove over to the health club and did a quick sauna session of 30 minutes at 160 degrees.

On my way across town, sitting at each intersection through three light changes per stoplight in the never-ending construction projects on Harmony Road, I saw everyone had their windows rolled down, tapping their fingers on the steering wheel, looking irritated and impatient with the slow pace of traffic.

Not me. The traffic wasn't bothering me, I could have waited all day on Harmony Road. I was training.

On the way out to Coyote Ridge and back, I drove with the windows rolled up and the heater cranked to the max in my car. People probably thought I had the AC on, but I was baking in there with the air vents blasting hot air in my face. I imagined myself driving down the highway somewhere in Death Valley in mid-summer, with the desert wind blowing in my face.

When we lived in Arizona I used to do early season heat training by sitting inside the car in the driveway with the windows up, listening to a radio program for an hour, with a big bottle of ice water. The neighbors thought I was crazy, but it worked. I always ran well in the heat.

This heat training takes some creativity but I can always find ways to fit it into my schedule. Even the worst traffic jam is an opportunity.

Positive thinking.