The time has come to finally taper down from my Berlin Marathon training. This Berlin marathon training by far has been the toughest one for me. I have never trained in the middle of the hottest months in Texas for my long runs. I had to change my mindset and do some positive thinking along the way to keep me going. I knew I couldn’t run my normal pace in this heat. The strategy I tried to follow was staying consistent and listening to my body.
Today the weather was cooler with the rain last night. I started before sunrise to run in cooler temps. Grateful for the cloudy skies, maintaining the cooler weather until my last 8 miles. That’s when the sun came out. However, it was still not as hot, and I was able to maintain a good pace till the end.
The months of August and September would have to be the hottest month of summer for us this year in Texas. We hit several weeks where the temps stayed over 105 degrees. My first 20 miler run was Aug. 26th and even at 6:26 a.m. when I started the temp was 84 degrees before sunrise. My pace was 9:31 and on the turnaround I had to slow it down a lot for it got hot fast. I finished in 3:10. For my second 20 miler run, the temp was 75 degrees at 6:25 a.m. and first time the high would be under 100 degrees. I finished at a 8:49 pace and finished in 2:56.
My running buddy, Dash, my dog has always ran with me on my training miles. However, in the summer I would only run her 10 miles the most due to the heat in the summer months. Well, this year, it got so hot that I only ran her no more than 5-6 miles with lots of water breaks. I would also only run her in the early morning. Afternoon runs would be way too hot. She wasn't happy about that, but it was for her safety and not to burn he paws off! Even I wouldn't run in 100 degree temps after work. I would go to the gym and run on the treadmill instead. On days I had to run 8 miles during the week, I would wait until sunset to run an evening run. It would be still be hot, but I would run in the shade as much as possible and drink a ton of water.
Like I said before, I had to dig deep in changing my mindset. There were many times, I didn't want to get up and run and just wanted to sleep in. I couldn't run fast even if I wanted to so, I just accepted it and listened to my body. I drank a lot more water before my long runs the day before. Another thing I'm doing is not drink any alcohol this time during my training. I feel a lot better too. Other things I do for cross training are strength training 1-2x a week and I still continue to teach cycle class 2x a week. I also picked up hot yoga and would do it once a week with my girlfriends. I lowered my sugar intake too and that helped my get back to my ideal marathon weight. It's amazing how a couple pounds slows you down LOL!
I'm starting to get excited now to go to Germany to finally celebrate our wedding anniversary. I'm going with my elite runner friend who is also running it with me and her husband (not a runner). Both are really good friends and really looking forward to go on this trip with them. They will only be there for the marathon and then coming home, but we will go stay couple more days. This will be the second marathon trip we have done together and know we will have a great time. Since we have never been there, we want to explore and see the sights of Berlin and take the train to other cities close by. This marathon happens to be when they have Octoberfest! That will be fun to be there for that too. Plus, getting some time off from work will be nice and very much needed for both Eddie and I.
Berlin Marathon, I’m ready for you! Keep on running!
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