Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Too Hot to Handle

The joys of traveling and training ...

Woke up in chilly Ft. Smith, Arkansas this morning on business and decided not to tempt fate by running outside in the dark in an unfamiliar area, especially when ice was a possibility.

I opted instead for the hotel "gym", a room just large enough for two old school treadmills, an elliptical, a bench with free weights and a recumbent bike. There was not room for much of anything else, including walking around room. My hotel room itself was definitely larger than this cubicle of a hotel gym. Sadly, this hotel actually had better facilities than the hotel I stayed at last week ...

There was an old school big box TV mounted on the wall on a news station, but no volume, so I ran with tunes and decided to make the best of it. What I didn't bargain for was the heat. There was no fan in the room and the heat must have been on high because I was drenched within a mile and my heart rate was screaming. It wasn't as hot a Bikram yoga session, but you are also not running during yoga, so I will call it a tie.

I was spent after 5 miles and had to take 15 minutes to cool down before getting in the shower. It was definitely not my finest run, but it is in the books and I stayed the course despite wanting to quit at the halfway point. Score 1 for winning the mental challenge. Can I count that as heat training for IMTX?

11 comments:

Unknown said...

hahaha I was thinking perfect IMTX training well reading the first few paragraphs - I keep pestering my gym to let is ride our trainers in the sauna - so far it is a no go!

Unknown said...

Oh my... definitely heat training for the IM as well as mental training for it! You left tougher for sure! :)

Joel said...

That had to be the WORST! I hate running in hotel gyms in the first place, especially if they are a little...um...sketchy like this one sounded.

Kristin Bradfield said...

I had the pleasure of a hotel gym in Cincinnati this morning, but better than nothing I suppose. At least this was all new stuff!

Ironman By Thirty said...

I'm sure that the hotel website touted their "fitness center" as well with pictures of the mirrored wall making it look huge... :)

Way to get in the miles!

ONEHOURIRONMAN said...

I think a definite MUST for any training regime... Hot musty run in moldy motel "gym" in Possum Ridge Arkansas with TV flickering and no volume and two channel selections. I will put it in the book...

Matthew Smith said...

Way to win the mental game! And, good call with running with tunes. News isn't that interesting...especially when there's no sound!

Velma said...

Yes, you can count it. Nice work!!

Caratunk Girl said...

Holy cow - great job!! Definitely counts for IMTX heat training for sure. Way to get it done when many people would have blown it off.

Mark said...

Hey... five miles on a treadmill ready for the Smithsonian in an Arkansas hotel? I'd say, that WAS your Ironman, honestly.

This story reminds me of a run I did a two weeks before Rev3 Cedar point on a treadmill on the 35th floor of a upper west side hotel in Manhattan with no music, no t.v., JUST a window looking outside at buildings. Oh, joy!

You'll kick ass Anne!

Anthony said...

I hope I never have to go to Ft. Smith, AR. My company does a lot of work there, scary...