Greetings from the San Tan Valley, just south of Phoenix!
I knew before coming down to Arizona that it was going to be hot and that I would have to adjust my training sessions accordingly. My approach was to treat the high heat with the same amount of respect that I treat extreme cold weather. Shorten your exposure and when training; slow down!
So prior to leaving I shifted the 4 hour Saturday, 5 hour Sunday sessions forward a week and tackled those challenges in Markham. That meant that this past Sunday the schedule called for a 5 hour walk in Pinal County Arizona. I tested things out on Friday with an hour long walk through the community at 6:30am. It was already 33 degrees Celsius and the sun was on fire! I was really glad that I had decided to pass on carrying my usual loaded backpack and that I carried a bottle of GU2O energy drink. So wearing my bright red Canadian running shirt,hiking boots and poles I trekked off down the road for 30 minutes and following several amused waves from a few dog walkers and a "hey, you forgot your skis", I made it back in an hour.
By noon the temperature had hit 42 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in sight! By 9pm that night it was 44 degrees. Stepping out the door felt like standing in front of on open oven that is set at 500 degrees F! The effect is incredible! Your skin feels like it is slowly roasting, your throat feels raw and you feel totally drained and exhausted.
The thought of trekking for 5 hours was ridiculous! So I started negotiating with my inner trainer. What if I got up at 2am and started my trek when it was cooler? Images of coyotes, rattlesnakes and scorpions lurking in the darkness cancelled that thought pretty quickly! What if I trekked for 2.5 hours on Saturday and then did the other 2.5 on Sunday? A quick check of the weather forecast put a damper on that idea as the weather was going to get progressively hotter through the weekend!
So I did what I usually do and I procrastinated on a decision and did my scheduled 1 hour trek on Saturday and hoped for divine intervention. It came in the form of my husband who calmy said; "train indoors at the gym". Brilliant, I responded, I'll do 5 hours on the cardio machines! No; he replied, split the difference. 2.5 hours should be enough. 2.5 was what I did! ..... 35 minutes on the elliptical, 35 minutes on the treadmill, 40 minutes on a stationary bike,and then another 40 minutes on the treadmill again. All of those machines had "hill" workouts and so I hit the mechanically simulated hills for 2.5 hours. I covered just over 24 kms in distance, drank 4 litres of water and probably dropped 3 pounds sweating!
What does the weather look like for this week? Well, they just announced an extreme weather alert for the county and they are forecasting a high of 50 degrees Celsius for tomorrow!!! Elliptical machine here I come!!!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Training Update
This post should probably be sub-titled: "Where have you been for the past two months,and why haven't you written any new posts?"
So, to recap, I ran the Ottawa Marathon on May 29th and set a new personal best by knocking a few minutes off my time. The race felt great and I enjoyed the new course. A light rain every now and then and an overcast sky really helped to keep the temperatures down. All of the races from the full Marathon to the Family Fun Run were completely sold out so Ottawa was full of runners and their supporters. It was a great weekend and a marathon that I highly recommend.
Returning home to Markham on the Monday began the switch to my walking/trekking training program. This was interesting for me because I had never really given walking much thought and the shift has taught me a lot.
We started out walking for half an hour 3 times a week and then the long walk on Sunday was 1 hour in length. This didn't seem to push me at all, so I changed it to 1 hour 5 days a week and the long walk on Sunday. The first thing I had to learn was what pace was sustainable, recognizing that the pace would probably be much slower in Nepal due to the altitude, but at home I felt that I needed to feel the effort. You know, break a sweat! After a few walks I settled in to a pace of a sub-10 minute kilometer so I could comfortably cover 6 km in an hour.
So when the Sunday long walk shifted to 2 hours, that meant I covered 12km. My running routes came in handy as I had a 12 km route, and when we shifted once again to a 3 hour walk, I had an 18km route. All good except that the change to walking made me remember what a total klutz I am as it became really clear, very quickly that unless I really focus on what I'm doing, I can't walk a straight line!! I weave all over the sidewalk like some crazed wacko! And now I know why the people that I meet when I am out walking have a mild look of concern on their faces as I approach!
Now if the image of a middle-aged woman walking/weaving along the sidewalk isn't bad enough ... add the trekking gear to the image. Now I head out for my walks wearing my usual running gear topped off by a pair of Vasque hiking boots, a Deuter 22 liter day pack, and a set of Black Diamond trekking poles. So now not only do I walk crazy, I look crazy! But I have always held the life philosophy that if you're going to burn, burn in hell.
So keeping a good British stiff upper lip and trying to focus on the fact that I was doing this for a greater cause, I set off this morning on my first 4 hour walk. Except for a few blisters and a bit of a sun burn I managed to cover nearly 24km of suburban geography and I learned 2 things: it is much easier to walk a straight line using trekking poles; and if you smile broadly and call out a cheery "good morning", the look of mild concern fades to a look of mild amusement on most people's faces!
Trek on, my friends!!!
So, to recap, I ran the Ottawa Marathon on May 29th and set a new personal best by knocking a few minutes off my time. The race felt great and I enjoyed the new course. A light rain every now and then and an overcast sky really helped to keep the temperatures down. All of the races from the full Marathon to the Family Fun Run were completely sold out so Ottawa was full of runners and their supporters. It was a great weekend and a marathon that I highly recommend.
Returning home to Markham on the Monday began the switch to my walking/trekking training program. This was interesting for me because I had never really given walking much thought and the shift has taught me a lot.
We started out walking for half an hour 3 times a week and then the long walk on Sunday was 1 hour in length. This didn't seem to push me at all, so I changed it to 1 hour 5 days a week and the long walk on Sunday. The first thing I had to learn was what pace was sustainable, recognizing that the pace would probably be much slower in Nepal due to the altitude, but at home I felt that I needed to feel the effort. You know, break a sweat! After a few walks I settled in to a pace of a sub-10 minute kilometer so I could comfortably cover 6 km in an hour.
So when the Sunday long walk shifted to 2 hours, that meant I covered 12km. My running routes came in handy as I had a 12 km route, and when we shifted once again to a 3 hour walk, I had an 18km route. All good except that the change to walking made me remember what a total klutz I am as it became really clear, very quickly that unless I really focus on what I'm doing, I can't walk a straight line!! I weave all over the sidewalk like some crazed wacko! And now I know why the people that I meet when I am out walking have a mild look of concern on their faces as I approach!
Now if the image of a middle-aged woman walking/weaving along the sidewalk isn't bad enough ... add the trekking gear to the image. Now I head out for my walks wearing my usual running gear topped off by a pair of Vasque hiking boots, a Deuter 22 liter day pack, and a set of Black Diamond trekking poles. So now not only do I walk crazy, I look crazy! But I have always held the life philosophy that if you're going to burn, burn in hell.
So keeping a good British stiff upper lip and trying to focus on the fact that I was doing this for a greater cause, I set off this morning on my first 4 hour walk. Except for a few blisters and a bit of a sun burn I managed to cover nearly 24km of suburban geography and I learned 2 things: it is much easier to walk a straight line using trekking poles; and if you smile broadly and call out a cheery "good morning", the look of mild concern fades to a look of mild amusement on most people's faces!
Trek on, my friends!!!
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