run, rest, eat, bitch, buy things, cross-train, blog, repeat.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Race Prep Potential Problem #2

I'm officially in taper mode now. And even though I'm feeling awesome and confident about the race... now that my weekly mileage is decreasing it's time for me to royally freak the eff out and question everything that I have and haven't done during this training cycle (makes for an anxiety-riddled couple of weeks for me, but will likely be a lot of reading material for you. enjoy).

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my concerns about maintaining a marathon pace and told you about my aversion to pace groups. Now it's time to talk about my other big concern... the weather.

Ummm... I'm pretty sure Accuweather is just shitting me with this.

As of right now May 6th is looking pretty swell (see above. that is the legit weather forecast for marathon day). But, I'm not falling for that bullshit. I'm expecting to wake up on May 6th and see this forecast...


So, what can I do? Well, you're probably thinking... nothing. And, you're probably right. BUT, I do have a couple of ideas up my sleeve.

1. Run a training run in the hottest part of the day.
Okay, so, you probably already know this about me... but I'm a morning runner. I like my streets and trails quiet and unpopulated. I like the darkness and the cooler temps.  All fine and dandy, except it makes me a bit of a pansy. I can't handle the hot, blazing sun, I can't handle people, I get cranky and irritated. It's not pretty. Luckily (for me and not for the 30,000+ people running the Country Music Half and Full Marathon this weekend) it's supposed to get up to 80 degrees on Saturday. So, I'm going to try and run my 10 miler in the middle of the day. (OMFG). I realize that just one run in the heat probably isn't going to really help me acclimate, but I think mentally, it might give me some confidence. Either that or I'll just die.

2. Take a hot yoga class or two.
I haven't been to hot yoga in over a year. But, I think it's time to get my ass over there again for a couple of classes. I really feel like when I was doing hot yoga consistently my sensitivity to the heat was wayyyyy less. So, I think hitting the sweaty studio for a class or two might help me be better prepared in case Mother Nature decides to Bring It on race day.

Ok, two problems down... what else should I worry about?

3 comments:

Melanie said...

I definitely think doing your 10-miler in the heat this weekend is smart. I think that doing so may help you acclimate more than you might think, and you're right that the confidence will be a big part of it. But I am just hoping you'll have awesome weather and it won't matter. :) BTW, love your little drawing!

Tanya said...

Well, a runner that you and I both know pooped her pants at mile 18 of a marathon once and had to endure 8.2 miles of horror.

You could worry about THAT.

Happy taper!

Spike said...

Run your 10M during the hot yoga class! I feel you on the weather worries, I always worry about the race day weather.