Trying to Acclimatize

You wouldn't think that you'd have to acclimatize for a race that is only a few hours away, but because of nature's ways, acclimatizing is the only way Eagleman is going to be a success for me. You see, we actually had a spring this year, unlike many of the previous years.

• The good: great weather for getting outside and logging some serious hours.
  
• The bad: Once summer hits, its a whole different ballgame.

Well, now that Memorial Day is past us, nature decided its time for summer. Today's forecast called for temps in the upper 80s, winds near 20 mph, and nothing but sun. Sound familiar to typical conditions somewhere? Thats more or less the forecast for next week's race. If its cooler, less windy, or more cloudy, all the better. But I'm not planning on it. So with only a week to go before my race, I decided I needed to get out and start acclimatizing to the heat, wind and sun so I can be as prepared as possible come race day.

The plan: Go for a hard 1.5k swim to have some fatigue in my legs and then go out for a 10 mile run. I didn't want to push too hard on the run, so I went out easy the first half at my realistic race pace for Eagleman and then picked it up to faster than race pace for the next 3 miles, before cooling down for the last 2 miles. It wasn't an easy run to say the least. The heat (heat index of 88) and humidity (about 70%) combined to make breathing a bit harder than anything I've been training in this season. Throw in relentless sun and wind, along with the added wind of running along the Potomac River, and it made for a challenging run.

I pulled through in the end, hitting right at my realistic race pace including my cool down, so I was definitely holding faster than race pace for the majority of the run. I really wanted to push the last 2 miles, but I didn't want to risk straining anything, so I threw my competitive mindset away in my fuel belt and comfortably made my way home. Over the next couple of days, I plan to try to get in some more hours in this weather, just so my body can adapt.

Leave it to nature to wait till a week out from the race before turning hot. Better late than never. I just hope its enough time.