Performing in the Heat

Note:  Part of this post is a little dated...

Unless you are living under a rock, it has been ridiculously hot out.  I can't remember a summer where it was this consistently hot out.  Come to think of it, maybe living under a rock is a best practice in this recent heat.  It has been so hot that this week is considered by trustworthy meteorologists to be a "cool" week (Average Temperature this week: 86 degrees, does not include humidity).  But hey, tomorrow's high is 77 degrees.  I may have to put on a sweater.

Needless to say, the heat sucks.  It's uncomfortable, sticky, depressing, tiring, and constant.  And that's if you are just standing in it.  Imagine biking and running, or just shooting some hoops in it.  The heat becomes magnified.  Your body temperature rises exponentially causing the sweat glands to open and pour out salt water to cool the body down while you continually perform arduous tasks.  The body desperately tries to cool your body; it works so hard that it burns an amazing amount of energy sucking every bit of nutrition and water you supplied yourself hours prior to activity.  Your mind chimes in, begging you to stop.  "Please find a cool place.  Stop doing this to yourself.  It's not worth it," are just a few quotes rattling off second by second.

Now, comes the realization that this has been going on for the first two miles of a 13.1 run in a half ironman.  It's 12:30, meaning it is only going to get hotter.  Plus, you previously swam 1.2 miles and biked 56 miles.  How would your mind handle it?

Mine failed stride by stride. 

This is painfully cheesy and poetic but I can't help myself sometimes:

In the blazing light of the sun, you soon find yourself in total darkness.

I couldn't get over the heat constantly burdening my every step.  I tried at every aid station to cool my body but it will never be enough.  I didn't train in the heat consistently which is out of my control but I can train my brain.  Mentally, I was a mess.  I couldn't only think about quitting.  I had already accepted defeat.  Just couldn't get past the reality of 11 more miles while trying to average a 7:45 mile and climbing up and down hills.  I couldn't do it. I wasn't strong enough.  My body was fine.  At mile 9, my body was even telling me to pick up the pace.  It couldn't handle walking up the hills anymore.  It was done going at this terribly slow pace.  A 1:40 half-marathoner humiliated down to a 2:15 half marathon in a World Championship Qualifying race.  I am pretty sure Michael Jordan would be laughing at me hysterically if I ever told him this story.  I quit on myself.  I accepted defeat.  All because I didn't wrap my mind around the heat. 

I couldn't escape the darkness. 

Everyone was struggling in that race.  Everyone was dying.  It was the golden opportunity to push through and destroy the competition.  I had a shot and failed.  I wasn't strong enough.

Now, I am training in the heat non-stop.  My body hates me every time I go out there in the middle of the day attempting to tackle the sun and humidity.  And I am not doing this to get my body adapted to the heat.  I just want to dismantle my demons because when you run in heat, your mind goes to dark places.  Places you are not ready to visit if you haven't take the time to face them.  Places so loud, they can be deafening. 

I mentioned in my last post about not using the true stories told by Dean Karnazes and Scott Jurek.  Two Ultramarathoners who face greater adversity than I could ever comprehend.  Both run 135 miles races in Death Valley....in the middle of July...where it has been recorded to reach a World Record high of 134 degrees.  A place so hot that your shoes literally melt when you run on top of the asphalt (the only way shoes don't melt is if you run on the painted white line). 

I have used these stories to inspire me.  Stories and lessons I have used to overcome adversity.  I forgot them when I needed them the most.  Karnazes stated continuously that pain is a good thing.  "If you are in pain, then you are doing something right."  Scott Jurek became the best ultra marathoner ever because his ability to block out and pain.  Jurek was so focused during a race that he crushed a rattlesnake with one of his strides and he didn't miss a beat.  He discovered later that he killed the snake when his pacer told him moments after. 

With every future step I take in the heat, these are the things I will never forget.  I failed to realize the simplicity of balancing positive and negative thoughts.  I focused only on the negative in Syracuse and couldn't escape my own demons.  I even tell people "if you can run in this weather, than you can run in anything."  How useful is that quote if I don't practice it myself? 

Darkness can point out the voids in your strengths making your best qualities almost irrelevant and in that rare moment, it is up to you to fill that void with perseverance and strength.  Then, your strengths become stronger and your weaknesses become obsolete. 

I forgot that...

Additional Notes:

This is two posts in the past three that I have reffered to Scott Jurek and Dean Karnazes.  I strongly recommend both of their books.  Even if you don't run, their stories are extremely powerful.  So strong, you're convinced they are fiction.

Here are the two titles:

Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes

Eat and Run by Scott Jurek