Thursday, September 2, 2010

Everything's Bigger in Texas

Apart from the monster size barbeque & trucks, there's the wonderful triple digit temps in the summer :)

It's been almost two years that I've spent the majority of my time in California living and training. So, when I arrived yesterday evening to San Antonio & did an easy evening jog to the gym, core workout, and jog home, it was clear that my heat resistance was in a bit of a hole.

However, I knew that in just 2-3 days I'd be near perfectly adjusted since growing up here I spent every day-lit minute outside playing under the scorching heat and humidity- the body does not forget that ;)

To accelerate that process, I really gave it to myself today hehe.

After an amazing 9hrs of sleep, I woke up, had some coffee and headed out on one of my favorite long loops around Alamo Heights- passing by my elementary, middle, and high schools. By the time I got started, 9am, it was already in the 90s. Usually I can run 2hrs with just a short water fountain stop. But today for my 2.5 I wanted to start my run on an empty stomach and practice fueling in the heat. I'm proud to announce I downed 2 powergels, and a full bottle of gatorade, plus another one of ice water I snagged from a gas station.

After that, came home, and....another lovely part of hot weather: I'm not hungry!!....so just some greek yogurt and fruit, a nap, and I felt ready to swim. The gym pool didn't sound so appealing plus I'm trying to be outside as much as possible so I went to the Alamo Heigthts Pool which I haven't been to since birthday parties when I was like 8, and I had the whole 50m outdoor pool to myself!!! Fantastic!!!!

The water itself was in the lower 80s so coupled with the sun beaming on my back close to 100F, it fell just short of heaven.

Tomorrow I'll do a short ride then head to swim at Barton Springs, dinner at Whole Foods Austin (best place in the entire world!!!), and plant myself at Sierra's to be her little rag doll until next weekend.

I look forward to smashing myself as much as possible and getting back to California for some recovery in the best shape of my life. Today showed me things are right on track. This trip was definitely KEY for my race.