I remember back in the day when I some friends training for Ironman Hawaii who did some crazy things to try to get ready for the heat. I think Sonja used to do trainer rides in the bathroom while she had the shower on and HOT. Other friends used to overdress during workouts. And as I mentioned previously, my friend Star (Clove on Salty Running) is utilizing the sauna to help her train for Badwater.
Now, I don't know if my next marathon is going to be hot or even warm, but I want to be prepared in case it is.
I don't have the luxury of making the bathroom super hot and humid and doing a workout in there. I live a little more rurally and have a well so I don't really want to waste water. But I can overdress for workouts and I do have access to a sauna, so with a few weeks to go until my next attempt, I've started to put these into practice.
First I started with a trainer ride this week where I wore a long-sleeved Under Armor shirt and did the workout without a fan. After the initial shock of, "oh my gosh, this is hot" the workout was okay. It became a contest (with myself, of course) to see how big the pool of sweat could get on the floor. Seriously gross.
Then earlier today I used the sauna at the Y for the first time. I'm not much of a hot tub or sauna girl. I don't like to be hot, nor do I want to share that space with other, potentially gross, people. But I did it anyway. I walked in and thought I was going to die. It was so damn hot! So hot! I looked at the thermometer on the wall and it said 140. That was as high as it went so who knows how hot it really was in there. Anyway, my goal was to be in there for 15 minutes. I took in a water bottle and drank every couple of minutes. I was sweating like a beast. I had water pouring off my face, arms, and legs. I have never sweat like that before. Holy moly! I made it to about 10 minutes and then I thought my nostrils were catching on fire. Thank goodness the weird old dudes in there started a conversation with me or else I'm not sure I would have made it the last 10 minutes. Although I didn't enjoy it and felt like it was pure torture, I know it's going to help. Probably. I hope.
What lengths have you gone to train/plan for the unexpected?
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I definitely say try Bikram yoga if you can find it near you. Another option that my ex-b/f used to do was running in heavy clothes at lunchtime -- in Dallas, so when it was already about 100 degrees. He was nuts, but he loved feeling like he'd sweated it all out.
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