I train hard by most standards, which is normal by Ironman standards. My training volume is at the bottom of the rung for those finishing in under 17 hours.
As I was coming into the end of my Ironman Texas training a month before the event I headed out for my last tough run. I scheduled it during the hottest part of the day so I could prepare for the heat that would come May 19 2012.
The run started well, nice and slow with the heat hitting me hard right away. I run 9 minutes then walk 1 minute. This worked well but the heat was working on me and I could see my heart rate rising as I got hotter. My route is a 5.5 mile loop at Cullen park here in Katy. On my second loop I could feel stomach starting to crap up. My legs were already starting to get tired and I was drinking often as best I could. Stomach issues faded, hooooray!
I finished two loops and thought about taking a potty break, but I really wanted to just finish. This turned out to be a big mistake. After my water break I started my last loop to get about 2 additional miles in the can. Once I was about half a mile from the rest area, my stomach started talking again. It was at this point I remembered that gas during a run, is always a warning sign that the colon apocalypse is about to arrive. It happened again, I ignored it and kept at my slow run. This was also mistake. 30 seconds later I knew I was in trouble. I dropped my hydration belt, moved to the side of the path and dropped my shorts. Explosion followed. I didn’t have anything to clean up with so I grabbed some leaves and acted like a caveman. I had to hurry because I feared a group of people running up and finding me butt naked hunch over. Lucky for me I was all alone.
I headed back with hydration belt in hand, with my head hanging low and feeling spent. I was happy with the work I did but bummed I didn’t get the full workout in. I was very thankful that I didn’t fully crap my pants and thankful I had a towel to sit on in my truck. As I walked back I knew I did all I could do for the day and that it would have to be enough. Turns out it was.