Training hard in Mexico!!

This has been a week of great acheivements. After a mere 18 days of trying we got the cable company to allow us to be connected to the internet. Bye-bye, sitting in cramped internet cafes for half an hour here and there to read emails and then getting logged off just before finishing that really long response to one of the emails. Got all the papers submitted so I can get my Mexican Senior Citizens card…should be able to pick it up tomorrow…then free bus trips!!!!

Enough of this gay banter. Training in Mexico is not easy. The weather in Isla Mujeres as been pleasantly warm since we arrived at the end of Oct, temps during the day being in the 70/80F’s, but the humidity is constantly at or near 100%. I try and get out at first light most days and run or swim; sometimes both, however, even in the cool mornings I can guarantee to be soaked with sweat within 30 minutes. Mentioned to Pam that I was losing about a pound for every mile I was running, needless to say, she expressed nothing but disdain for this amazing flesh vanishing act.  Fortunately I have found the antidote for this and can put on a pound just by looking at a cold beer.
Have not managed any long runs since we arrived, 9 miles being the longest, and have not kept to the 10 mins running 1 minute walking plan that Angie and I started doing back in Oct. The sun comes up very quickly here, there is little shade and I find myself wanting to get the run over with before it gets too hot. So I plod along in my soaking clothes and try and finish without walking. The first few runs here were a mix of run/walk but am a little more used to the heat/hunidity and did manage 7 miles in just over an hour yesterday without walking. Isla Mujeres is about 3 inches above sea level and the air is very hot and heavy, in contrast to San Miguel, where we spent last week, which is about 6,400 feet above sea level. The air is very thin and the mornings were around 30F….had one long sleeve T with me, so had to wait until mid-morning when it warmed up to start my run….but no humidity, quite the opposite. Also very hilly. The house we stayed in was half way up a cliff-face overlooking the city and so my first decision was whether to start or finish my run uphill or downhill. On a three mile run I would go up and down between 6,400 and 6,700 feet and although on the downhills I could average well under 8 minutes a mile my overall average would be over 11 minutes per mile. btw, all the streets were narrow and cobble stoned and the traffic while very dense was also very respectful.
Have not done as much swimming as I probably should have done, only managing to get in a couple of one hour swims a week.  I have a one block walk to a north/south beach which has a roped off area about a tenth of a mile long for swimming.  The current goes from south to north and swimming against the current generally takes more than twice as long as swimming with the current.  But the times vary each time I swim depending on the strength of the current; some days I can go the length of the beach against the current in 10 minutes, while another day it will take 25 minutes.  And it has absolutely nothing to do with the number of beers I had the night before.  Actually have been drinking remarkably little beer despite the heat.  Tried wearing my Garmin on my wrist while swimming and although it works it measures the movement of my arm going forwards and backwards, so the distance it calculates tends to be more than twice the real distance and the map of the swim looks very weird. The strap is not long enough for me to wear it around my ankle, which would probably give a more accurate reading.

I really miss the group sessions and just having someone else to share the training.  It’s too easy not to push myself when there is nobody to try and keep up with.  Two more weeks and you get me back!!!