Operation Beat the Heat: T-9 days!

JUST 9 DAYS TO GO UNTIL FLORIDA 70.3!

Operation 'Beat the Heat' is well underway.  My commitment to this goal is even surprising me a bit, but I am damn determined to not let the heat at this event get under my skin.  Thank you to everyone who offered advice and support via comments in my last blog post.  I've taken everything under consideration and I am grateful for your help.

MONDAY, MAY 3rd:
Other than an awesome power yoga class which made me ache in places that I didn't know I had, I took this entire day off.  I was still down 1.5 pounds when I woke up Monday morning, so I decided that it would be best not to sweat.  Unfortunately, awesome yoga teacher likes the room warm and I left with a damp shirt.

I hit the grocery store Monday morning and purchased about $45 worth of produce in one shot!  My goal = gnaw on foods with a high water content as much as possible.  In the basket went watermelon (my lifesaver from summer 2009), seedless red grapes, apples, bananas, strawberries, baby romaine, baby spinach, shredded broccoli/carrot mix, a fresh veggie mix for stir-fry and a couple of my beloved sweet potatoes.  All of these things are normally a part of my diet, but eating more of them this week (and hence taking in more fluid) is a big part of the plan.

TUESDAY, MAY 4th:
On Tuesday morning I still wasn't feeling quite right in the head, so I took the entire day off.  No sweating at all.  Around 6PM Tuesday evening, I was finally feeling more like myself.  I am shocked that the overheating/dehydration from Sunday took me two full days to recover from.  That's pretty scary, folks!  Aside from shoveling in all of my fruits/veggies and drinking pleanty of fresh water, I focused on the color of my pee.  Gotta love how triathlete's have license to talk about pee and poo all the time.  My 5:30PM pee was finally the color that I wanted it to be... a light lemonade, nearly clear.  Perfect!  Hydration!!!!

WEDNESDAY, May 5th:
I was finally feeling GREAT again and my weight was back to normal.  My mom had a celebratory mass at her home Wednesday morning and I volunteered for the position of chief cook!  I was excited about preparing a couple of gorgeous quiches for the guests and even more excited about getting back to the business of training.  On the agenda for Wednesday was a 2000 yd. race specific swim + a 1 hour easy run.  I did the run indoors on the gerbil mill.  in light of what I went through on Sunday, I didn't think it would be smart to do it outside in a heat index of 100F.

THURSDAY, May 6th:
Scott and I picked up our race-tuned bikes from the shop in the morning and then waited for the hottest part of the day to pass before beginning our workout.  At about 5PM (don't worry folks, it was still 90F out), we packed everything up and headed to our favorite cycling spot.  On tap was a 1:30 bike/20 min. t-run.

My goal was to adjust my pacing on the bike... and learn to know it and love it.  I ended up dropping my pace down by 1 mph and what do you know, my sweat rate on the bike dropped off a bit too.  The entire ride felt Zone1 to me and my 'heart' wanted to go faster, but my 'brain' was firmly in control.  I still drank 50oz of fluid in 1:30 and then additional fluid on the run, but I felt really good.  I even had to pee when I got off the bike (highly unusual for me).  I did not add any of the strong S!Caps to my sport's drink this time and instead opted for 2 scoops of Endurolytes (which would slightly boost the sodium already in my G2).  I did not end up crusty at all after this 2 hour workout.  Hmmmm....  less salt, less crust?  Maybe I really don't need all of the salt that I was taking.  Looks like I had better fluid balance with this approach.  Eh, it's all still very much a science project.

TODAY:
On tap for today is a 45 minute run with some pick-ups.  I am doing this workout outside, but I'm going to start in the evening.  I will still have temps around 88-89F, but the sun will not be as high in the sky and that tends to help a great deal.

I also plan to put on my old Seane Corn yoga DVD and stretch this body out!  By nature, I would consider myself a born yoga enthusiast and mediator.  I like the peaceful quiet of the discipline, the rhythmic breathing, and the spirituality that comes with a relaxed mind.  Unfortunately,  I just haven't been doing it since triathlon/running became a part of my life. I intend to make a lot of room for it  in the future.  Scott teases me how I often like to just find an environment that I feel at one with and then just sit there and meditate and stretch.  Once, when we were in Las Vegas, Scott and our friends were hiking around beautiful Red Rock Canyon while I took residence on an amazing boulder that had been smoothed by the desert winds.  I could have stayed there forever.  He had to coax me off the thing.


PICS OF THE WEEK:

With my mom after the celebratory mass at her home.

A few smooches from the best guy a girl could ever ask for.