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Running in El Nino
By Efren Martinez
Lately we have been hearing a great deal about preparing your home and family for another wet El Nino year from all sorts of media outlets including the National Weather Service. This is smart advice and if you are into fitness as I am. It would be wise to prepare for your Surgical Artistry Modesto Marathon with this valuable information I’m about to share with you. With March being one of the wettest months of the year, and it being an El Nino year, the odds are that you will have a very rainy and windy run for your 2016 Modesto Marathon. But don’t let that discourage you, just acclimate yourself. Let’s be honest, it’s really no fun to compete in freezing, windy and rainy conditions. I should know, I’ve been there and done it as a few of you have in previous Modesto Marathon El Nino years.
The best way to conquer this unfavorable weather challenge is to train in it prior to. Back in 2013 I competed in The Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in the dead of winter. The conditions were horrible and the bay water was 14 degrees colder than it would have been in the summer. In fact, many of the San Francisco media sources referred to all the 2013 Escapees as the new 49er’s because this was the bay temperature that wintertime, 49 degrees. Knowing that competing in this triathlon in the winter was going to add a level of uncomfortable difficulty, I switched out my training to help me get through as you too should if you are running The Modesto Marathon in 2016. One of the most important parts of my training for my winter triathlon was getting acclimated in swimming in very chilly waters. So my trips to Santa Cruz and to San Francisco’s Marina Green were frequent for my swims. As far as the other two legs of the triathlon, biking and running, Modesto was a perfect for it. My best advice to you if you are running in the Modesto Marathon is to train in the most unfavorable wet and rainy conditions possible.
Keep your eyes on the weather forecast and pick the days that will be filled with the worst weather conditions to run in. The windier and wetter the better. Will it be uncomfortable, sure it will, but this type of training will help you get through if mother nature decides to throw her worst on you as she has in the past. This type of training will be exceptionally worth it in two ways: if it rains it will help you get through. If your race turns out to take place on a warm California sun shining day, it will be a picnic compared to what you’ve put your body thought prior to, with training in the worse weather conditions.
As far as me competing in another winter triathlon, I won’t be doing that again. I should have gotten a clue not to do it when many of the professional athletes decided to pull out of it early on. It was much too cold for them and as it proved deadly when one of the tri-athletes that year had a heart attack and died soon after he hit the water. Some say it must have been the initial shock of the freezing water that triggered his cardiac arrest. Despite that, it was the most miserable and saddest triathlon I’ve ever competed in. Train smart and be prepared for an El Nino Marathon or whatever might come your way.
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