Road to Grandma’s Marathon: Final Weeks of Training & Heat Training vs. Altitude Training

In this final Road to Grandma’s Marathon episode before race day, Katie shares a candid look at the last few weeks of training, tapering, travel, and preparation leading into one of the most anticipated races of her season.

From testing a bargain pair of carbon-plated racing shoes and completing key marathon workouts, to navigating travel across Colorado, New York, Vermont, and eventually Minnesota, Katie discusses the realities of marathon preparation when life doesn’t always go according to plan. She reflects on adapting workouts, managing confidence after illness, balancing family commitments, and learning to trust the training despite missed sessions and unexpected challenges.

Katie also takes a deep dive into the science of altitude training versus heat training. She explains how altitude improves oxygen-carrying capacity, how heat training influences plasma volume and thermoregulation, and why she incorporated sauna sessions and strategic heat exposure to help maintain altitude-related adaptations while spending several weeks at sea level before race day.

In this episode you'll learn:

•  How Katie's final marathon workouts and taper unfolded 
•  Why missed workouts rarely make or break a race 
•  The importance of confidence heading into race week 
•  The differences between altitude training and heat acclimation 
•  How sauna sessions may help endurance athletes prepare for racing 
•  Practical considerations for heat training, hydration, and recovery 
•  Why the taper is often more of an art than a science 

With carb-loading underway, race nerves building, and Grandma’s Marathon just days away, Katie shares her final thoughts before stepping onto the starting line and reflects on the journey that got her there.

Whether you're preparing for your own marathon, experimenting with heat training, or simply curious about the behind-the-scenes reality of endurance training, this episode offers practical insights and an honest look at the final stretch before race day. 

Tune in and join Katie on the final steps of her Road to Grandma’s Marathon.

For coaching inquiries:

Coach Katie → https://fuel2run.com

Coach Justin → https://tabularasaracing.com

Podcast Email → theenduranceathletejourney@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hey everybody, this is Katie from Fuel to Run, and I am going to be doing my grandma's episode, my road to grandma's episode today. So I'm not in my typical location. I'm actually here in Vermont visiting my mom. So I am uh traveling a bit. I think I might have mentioned this before. I kind of skipped a week because I had some issues with the travel and just making and recording and kind of getting everything set last week. So I'm going to be doing my final Road to Grandma's Marathon episode today. And I'm going to kind of go over how the training's been going the last three weeks or so, a little bit about the travel, um, how that's been impacting me. And I'm also going to talk a little bit today about heat training and the dive into altitude training versus heat training and the benefits and how heat training can work congruent with altitude training, or how you can kind of combine those two, because that's something I'm kind of dealing with right now, with having gone from altitude like mile high and close to Denver, down to sea level, trying to maintain some of the benefits of altitude training. So I've been doing implementing some things to try to maintain benefits from altitude while I'm down here. And so just a little discussion on that, maybe the benefits, some of the things that you can consider implementing, especially if you live at sea level, what might work in terms of heat training and how that may have similar benefits, but maybe different mechan mechanisms in terms of how they work. So I'm gonna talk a little bit about that as well. But I want to just start with an update of my training. So I'm gonna dive into training peaks here. So I'm trying to think of the last time I recorded. I think it was possibly the like early June or the very end of May, maybe the, maybe around Memorial Day, I think was the last time I actually recorded. So it's been a while. I have a lot of kind of to update on what's going on with my training. So that week I had my final long run um on that Sunday, and I had a few workouts during the week, but I also had a recovery day on Tuesday, the 26th. So I think I recorded Monday night. So it was interesting. On Memorial Day, Runners Roost in Fort Collins, it's our local running store, and they had a sale on running shoes. And so I went there thinking, oh, I might be able to pick up a few pairs uh cheap. Uh, but I actually, when I was there, I found a pair of the CLO um Hoka carbon shoes that were my size, and they were only $40. They were like the older version, but they were only $40. And I found another pair of ultras that were kind of their minimalist shoe that I like to wear sometimes because I like to have different types of shoes I try and wear, and the minimalist I like just running around at easy runs because I feel like I feel the ground a little more and I don't like to have always too much cushioning. And sometimes I like more cushioning for long runs and less for shorter runs. And so I found two pairs of shoes. They were 40 bucks each, which was like a steal. And I'm like, okay, I'm gonna try these. I wasn't sure what I was gonna wear for my marathon. Like I wasn't sure what I was gonna wear for the race itself. Like I've worn ultra, the ultra, I think it's the carbon vanish, carbon, um, their carbon plated shoe, but I've worn that now for a couple marathons and I liked it. So I was like, well, I guess if I can't find anything, I'll go back to that. I'm kind of picky, the shoes hurt my feet. And if I'm wearing the shoe and it's hurting my feet by mile 10, you know, sometimes it'll break into it, but sometimes I won't. I've had a couple pairs of or at least one or two pairs of carbon shoes that I wasn't able to wear. Uh, that doesn't work for me. So I have had some issues with those carbon-plated shoes before. So I was like, well, I got these for 40 bucks. I didn't pay 250. Um, so I wore them for the last four miles of that progression run where I started really easy. And I just I like these runs because you finish strong. And that was one of the things I struggled with my last marathon. So I uh started easy and finished the past the last three or four miles, um, especially the last mile or two at race pace. And I put those shoes on the last four miles and they felt really good. No issues, I felt bouncy, you know, no foot issues. At least four miles isn't enough. Um, but I was optimistic. They actually felt different and even more bouncy and kind of supportive in that way than the carbon-plated shoes I've worn before. So that day I did test those out, did kind of a short work uh strength workout. Um, Thursday, the 28th, was just an easy one with some hill sprints. Friday was like a ladder interval workout with some speed. So oh, that was that was the other day. The 29th, I wore my carbon-plated shoes, and I wore those um for that workout. So it was like a 10, 8 to 10 mile workout. I did a ladder workout. So I did some speed, whereas like kind of 5k fate pace or slightly faster, and then maybe up to 10k. So one minute faster than 5k, two minutes at 5k, and then three minutes a little bit slower. So just a s a speed workout, I felt like I really needed that. I with being ill and everything, I felt like I hadn't had a lot of speed, and I just felt like I needed something that was more speedy, even though I've been kind of supposed to transition to more marathon-paced stuff, but I just needed something to feel like my legs could be fast. Um I've been sort of dealing with confidence issues coming into the race just because I had that illness and then had several workouts that were really a struggle. Um, so that one felt really good. I allowed enough kind of um rest in between so that I could feel good and speedy. And I wore those shoes and they still felt really good. So that's a I'll wear them like maybe one more time before my race, but I want to sort of spare them as much as they can for the race because I know those carbon-plated shoes sort of don't have a long lifetime in them, and I want to make sure that they're as fresh as they can be for the race. So I don't want to overwear them. Um Saturday I had a recovery run, a plometric, and then Sunday was my long run. I have to cut that part out. So um Sunday was my last long run workout, and so that one was four times. So I had to do four times 4K at marathon pace, one K at 90% marathon pace with a little bit of a jog in between. So I ended up doing it in miles versus K. So I did the marathon pace was 2.5 miles at marathon pace or around marathon pace. So like I put it kind of 645 to 7 minute pace because it was a hilly, a hilly course, and then the slightly easier for 0.75, so 720 to 730, which is around 90% marathon pace, and then just a little short like quarter mile jog recovery between each each, and I had four of those. So I actually did five-mile warm-up. So I did five miles just kind of easy, and then I did that workout and then finished it. But I kind of had to improvise a little bit during the workout, so I ended up kind of doing some um doing the workout but having it flip-flop a little bit where I'd start with the 90% marathon pace and then do the marathon pace. And then at the end, instead of I sort of instead of like slowing down and cool down, I try to push it a little bit um at marathon pace towards the end. So it ended up being some version of that, but I did um make a few adjustments based off how I was feeling, but I did feel really good for that run and ended up doing 20 miles that day for my last 20 miler. And then I did um Monday, so this is June 1st. I did a recovery run, ended up splitting it into two. Just obviously my body was hurt hurting a little bit after that really long run with that marathon pace stuff. So I just kind of did two three mile, really easy runs, um, mostly for time reasons, not for any other reason, just because I didn't have time to do it all at once. I had to break it into two. Um, the next day I felt pretty good. I was able to do um eight to eight miles with uh some short heel sprints uh and some plyometrics before that. Then the Wednesday the third, I did an eight-mile run with um 30-second 5k speed play. So I'd do this thing where I kind of run and then I have 30 seconds fast and then a pretty good recovery in between just to add a little bit of speed without a lot of um wear and tear on my body. And I like that just kind of makes me feel speedy. I did some back squats, some leg and bench press arm stuff that day. And then I did uh so Thursday was the day we were supposed to travel, and I ended up um having some stress. So I don't want to go into it in too much detail, but we have a couple of we have a horse and a donkey. Anyways, we had some horse drama, let's just say that. And so I ended up only being able to do four miles as opposed to do like a progression run. But we were traveling that afternoon, we had this stuff happen, this life, you know, life happens sometimes. So I wasn't able to do that, which is okay. I think sometimes we miss workouts for stuff, and sometimes we stress too much about it and it's not worth stressing about because one miss workout or one mark workout that isn't perfect or you have to cut out short isn't gonna be make or break your race. It's all of the consistency you've done before and after that matters the most. And so I think it kind of cut my mileage last week a little bit shorter than I wanted, but I was able to kind of make up for it a little bit later. The unfortunate thing is we were traveling to New York, so we had a late night or late afternoon travel. So it was we left at six mountain time, and we got in, and then our flight was delayed, and we actually were traveling to New York, so we went to Syracuse and it was a two-hour difference. So we get in there at 12 45 in the morning, and we had to rent get a rental car, which ended up being a little bit of an issue because they only had this like van. It wasn't what I ordered or what I had thought I was getting, and you know, it took a minute, and then we had to drive over to the lakes. They have these finger lakes that was called a Tisco Lake, and this is for a family reunion. So we drove there. It was like two in the morning before we fell asleep. And I just having had all that stress earlier in the day and then the travel, I just slept terribly. So we get up the next day and we had to do some family stuff. So we went, kind of woke up, had an easy day, went over, saw family, and then it's the middle of the day, and I'm like, okay, I do need to fit my run in. So we were just kind of hanging out by the lake, and I went and ran, but it's humid and hot. So it was probably good like heat training. But I was so tired. It was just, I think it was an easy four or five mile run that I did. And then trying to recover from lack of sleep, we slept pretty good the night the next night. Um, but again, I kind of had waited. I there was some trails there, like a nice pretty trail system they had. It was like a nature area, so it was a lot of looping, short little trails, but I was able to kind of midday again, so a little bit warmer, but went and did a trail run and ended up being like pretty slow, but a thousand feet of elevation gain in within six or seven miles. But it was just a nice little easy run on the trails. I saw a couple of critters, I saw really cool um woodpecker, I saw a deer, I saw a bunch of frogs, some turtles. So it was a neat, a neat little place, kind of, you know, getting the experience in New York. I don't remember the name. Anyways, I can't remember what the name of it was, but it if I can remember, I'll have to put it in the um show notes. But it was a cool little area we got where they had some um trails and nature hikes, ended up kind of jogging that, and then coming back, you know, hanging out with family again for the family reunion, and then the next day I had my 16-mile run, my last long run with again some marathon pace stuff in there. So Syracuse has, and this is kind of a cool history of New York, there's the Erie Canal that goes through, I think, from like Buffalo to maybe Albany, New York, maybe even further than that. But it's um a canal system that they built to um back, you know, 1800s, early 1900s. I don't know the exact date, but they built it to be able to have um travel, you know, through and kind of be able to like um it's almost like when before they had cars, you know, they were able to like ship things through this canal and it was really cool. And there's certain parts of the trail that have like or the canal that have like a trail system. And in Syracuse, they have about a 35 mile section. I don't know if there's other sections. I think you can kind of connect it somehow. I don't know if you could connect the whole thing with trails, but there's a section that was like 35 miles, and I went there and I was able to run that uh some of that section. So I had my water carry with me. So I did a little warm-up and then I did about three and a half miles out, and I only was able to make it. Oh, maybe it was a little bit further than that. But unfortunately, because of the water situation, I wasn't able to go very far. I had to kind of come back, get more water, and then do another out and back. But I ended up doing like 16 miles on this Erie Canal Trail, which was a really cool experience, and it was a little warmer, humid, but not as warm as it had been a few days prior. So it was a little bit cooler, just the humidity has been a little bit of a challenge for me, going from like really dry air to humid. And that one was 16 miles, and it was doing um two a little over two miles at marathon pace with um again a 90%, um, about a half a mile at 90% marathon pace, and then kind of alternating between that without really a break. Of course, at the end I struggled. I I was took the first one RP based off RPE, and then I did the three, so there was a total of five, and then the three in the middle were pretty strong, and then that last one I just struggled because I was running out of water and um had kind of maybe dehydrated myself a little bit, not taking in enough fluid for the first bit, but um it was just hard to kind of figure that out because I was having to kind of go back and forth and out and back, but I did that, felt really good, was able to kind of hit the marathon pace, um, was able to experience it was flatter, so that was nice, and I was able to experience that Erie Canal trail. So I drove back, you know, again, had family stuff, and then we were driving from there to Vermont to be with my mom for a bit. So we've I'm and that's actually where I am now. So my son and I stayed here, and my husband flew back to Colorado, but I've been training here ever since. So on Monday, the um, let's see, Monday the 8th or 8th of June, yes. And that's kind of when we were in Vermont. I did that day eight mile recovery, nice little run. Um, Tuesday was easy five with strides, so just kind of keeping it easy. And then I had another kind of my one of my last bigger workouts was 13 miles, again, kind of alternating between um supposed to be kind of between like a 1K at um eight times one K at around marathon pace and one K at around um 90%, a little, maybe a little faster than that. Um it was it was hard because again, it was humid and I've been waiting just with my mom being here with my son. I've been kind of waiting, not able to go like first thing in the morning. So it's been harder to go at like 9 or 10, and then it's already pretty warm out. And that's probably good in terms of just getting used to the heat and humidity a little bit. Um, but I know I struggled a little bit with that on that particular run and kind of hitting the paces right, but I kind of give myself a little leeway, knowing that the dew point I think that day was maybe like 65 or a little higher, so it was a bit humid and warm. Um, took Thursday off. I did five or six miles easy with strides. On Friday, the one thing that I have been implementing, so I didn't mention this, but Tuesday the ninth, I did 30 minutes of sauna. So I joined a gym for the week to that just to be able to get a little strength and then the sauna. And um so I did, and I'll talk a little bit about why I'm doing that. Actually, at the end when I'm done with my recap, I'll talk about that. But I did 30 minutes of heat training. I did um that day Friday, I actually did the easy run, a little bit of cardio and some upper arm strength. Saturday, I did my last workout, big workout, sort of big workout speed, actually incorporating some speed. So it was six times one thousand um one thousand meters at or one K at about one oh seven and one ten marathon pace. So I think it was like six between six and six twenty pace is kind of what I was aiming for, depending on how I was feeling with the warm-up and a cool down. I was supposed to do that at the track. I was excited. I was like, oh, I'm gonna go to the high school track and reminisce about old days because this is where I went to high school. And I wasn't able to go because they were having high school graduation. So I get there and they're having this high school graduation, so I had to find an alternative. So I ended up running it, kind of building a workout in my um watching, kind of doing it on the streets, finding like a section of pretty flat, you know, fast uh pavement that I could do it on. But unfortunately, I wasn't able to do that on the track. But it worked out. I ended up getting 10 miles total, was able to go to the gym, do a little like strength, my final leg strength, and some sauna work. And then I had a nice easy six on Sunday, which was good because my legs were a little tired. And then yesterday I had my or Monday I had my final heat training session and a little short workout, kind of my final workout. So it ended up being four times four minutes at I think it was just slightly faster than marathon pace. So I think I aimed for around 6.30 pace for those and warm-up and cooldown, it's total of five. And then today I just did some three miles easy um with um some strides. And then tomorrow I take off. I'm just gonna do some mobility. Thursday will be a four-mile easy run with a few one-minute pickups at race pace, just nothing crazy, just something just to kind of get my legs again, just keeping with the taper, just kind of keeping up with the frequency, but not necessarily doing very much. So that's kind of the the art of the taper. I know we've talked about that in some of our episodes, but the hard part about the taper is figuring out how to do it right. But sometimes I think if we take too many days off, then our body starts to think we're in some sort of recovery mode or just not training anymore. So we have to keep, I think the way I do it is kind of keeping the frequency, keeping in some intensity, but really cutting back. So last week I think I had 48 miles of running, and then the week before was 64 with a little bit of cross-training last week was 48 with like 20 minutes of cross-training, so maybe equivalent to 50. So I didn't cut back as much as I usually do because the week before I kind of didn't get I was kind of just slowly cutting back, and then to this week I cut back significantly, and hopefully I'll feel fresh. So I don't I found that if I cut back too soon, too much, too many weeks early, it's almost like I miss the mark. And sometimes I think I've peaked a little bit early. So I'm trying to sort of plan the taper a little bit so I peek a little bit later, so I'm not peaking in the marathon so early in. So it's kind of just sometimes it's an art. Sometimes it's hard to figure out, but I did feel pretty good today. I'm hoping I'm taking tomorrow off, like I said, and then Thursday I'll do four miles with just a little few pickups, and then Friday is the day before the race. So I've got 20 um 20 minutes, just easy jog, and then the race is Saturday. So it's getting really close. I'm starting to get nervous, but I've been pretty busy doing some work stuff, hanging out with my son. You know, he's a lot of work, so just trying to, you know, do stuff with him while we're here. So that's keeping me mentally kind of from spending a lot of time dwelling on the marathon, which has been a problem in the past of like thinking too much about it. It's just trying to find that right balance of thinking enough about it without overthinking it, which is hard to do. Um, because you need to have some ability to kind of think it through. Be ready for it without overly dwelling on it and like worrying and getting anxiety over it. And that's always a hard balance to figure out. So that's kind of where I'm at with it. But um, I'm gonna start my carb load a little bit tomorrow, kind of ramping it up, then having that for the few days before. I've talked about that in my carb loading episode, so check that out. Kind of where how I'm gonna do that, and um try and drink lots of water and just kind of relax and take it easy. Otherwise, um, we're actually traveling to Minneapolis on Thursday with my son, and my husband's gonna meet us there. So it's been a convoluted trip, but he's gonna be driving out, meeting us in Minneapolis, and then we're gonna stay there overnight and then drive in to Minnesota. So we've reserved because of how hard it is to find a spot there that isn't a thousand dollars a night. We had a camping, so we have our tent, we have a camping site reserved, but his mom also reserved um Airbnb, but it's quite a ways, it's kind of towards the two harbors. If you people who've run the marathon before, it's kind of ways out from that. So I'm trying to decide what I'm gonna where we're gonna stay still before. Um either way, it's gonna be an early morning, and either way, it's kind of not ideal, but we're gonna make the most out of it. And hopefully I'll be able to get sleep, some good sleep the two nights before. Um, but yeah, I'm I'm starting to get excited and a little bit nervous about it. But uh the next time I'll talk to you, it will be for the recap of how it all goes. Um, but I am I'm gonna sort of dive into the altitude versus heat training and a little more about that. So let's uh kind of dive into uh the why I, you know, why I've been doing the heat training, what my thought process is there, and the difference and benefits between altitude and heat. So for grandma's for this trip we were gonna go on, I knew that there was gonna be at least a couple weeks where I wasn't gonna be able to maintain my altitude training because I was gonna be at sea level. Because we were gonna be at sea level for over two weeks before the race, and I knew that the benefits of altitude training would decrease after seven to eighteen days. So I was kind of running the risk there of not um seeing some of the benefits that I gained of being able to train at altitude at a mile high or so. I decided to implement some heat training. So I was doing some before, so I was doing some hot tip training, like, but not as consistently as I wanted, but would be anywhere between one to three times a week. So I wasn't as consistent, especially right before I think the last time I was able to do it was the Monday before we left. When I was um in Vermont, I was able to do some heat training. So I'm gonna talk about that a little bit, but the wanted to sort of differentiate the difference between altitude training and heat training. So just a little review here when we're altitude is we have less oxygen available, and the higher up in altitude we go, the less oxygen it becomes somewhat hypoxic. And so benefits, I mean, even at a mile higher, 5,000 meters, I believe, above sea level in Fort Collins, there can be some benefit. Obviously, the further up you go, the more somewhat benefit you get. Of course, there's some diminishing returns as the higher you go, you're just not able to train at faster speeds. So there's some potential issues the further up in altitude you go of actually being able to run at certain speeds or maintain certain volumes. Um, but the body adapts essentially by providing or producing more red blood cells and then also hemoglobin to carry oxygen. So basically you're just having more of those that oxygen carrying capacity to your muscles. And the more oxygen you can carry to your muscles, the faster you can go, the more you can maintain a pace because you're able to get more oxygen to muscles, and that's kind of key for being able to work a little bit harder. The heat training, on the other hand, kind of helps the body adapt, expanding pl plasma volume, but it doesn't work in the same way, which helps improving the way your body um is able to thermoregulate. So you're able to tolerate slightly higher or more humid temperatures, um, or you're increasing your sweat sweat rate a little bit by and being able to kind of tolerate more um higher temperatures, and it kind of lowers, also can help lower your resting heart rate. So there's some benefits to both. There's a little bit different in their mechanism of how they're working, but there's similar adaptation in terms of the plasma volume increase. So obviously, altitude's gonna require time and expense. You have to be there for three or four weeks ahead of time to get the benefits. So you'd have to move somewhere for a temporary point of time. That's why athletes, like elite athletes, often train at altitude, but do like camps at altitude and then come back to sea level. Um, but the heat piece is much more accessible. So you can also adapt within seven to fourteen days, so there's a little bit less time. Depends on how often you want to go. Um, but uh there's differences, but they both have some similarities, some differences. But the reason I wanted to do the heat training was because there is potential benefit if you were already altitude trained to maintain the benefits of altitude if you add heat training. What I've done is I've been able, so when I got to New York, that first day I did run in the middle of the day where it was hot when I wasn't really used to the humidity. So that's kind of one thing you can do. You can either run or work out in the heat of the day. That's a little bit harder and more stressful on the body, and you can't really get good quality workout in, but that's an option. So that first day I did that. Um, and then when I got to Vermont, so it was Tuesday, I went to join the gym here and local gym for one week, and I was able to get into the saunas. I didn't realize they had a sauna at the time they had that it was a hot tub. Um, but I found out when I got there and was in the locker room that they actually had a sauna, which is a little bit better because the heat is much higher, the it's easier to stay in it, essentially, for me, anyways. And so what I did that first day is I actually was able to do like 30 minutes in the sauna on that Tuesday. So that would have been the ninth. And then um I did a workout kind of a little bit more in a a little bit more of a humid, mildly um hot environment on Wednesday. It was a longer workout, and so I kind of utilizing some heat training then just with the workout. It wasn't extremely hot, but it was definitely not what I was used to with humidity, and the dew point was like I think 65. And then on Friday, I did like a run later in the morning, mid-morning, late morning, that was quite hot. It was like 90 degrees here and um 80% humidity. And so I was able to do a heat training run then, and then Saturday I did another I did a workout and then a sauna session. So it's a little better if you can do the heat training after working out, but I'm not always able to do that with the way my schedule's been, so I've been just trying to incorporate it when I can. Um, but I was able to kind of get that in after my workout on Saturday, and then my last day was yesterday. Um, the other thing is I didn't want to do it too soon, close to the marathon, because with anything like that, with heat training or altitude, there's a level of stress that is on your body. You're obviously losing a lot of fluid, and I didn't want to put myself at risk for the marathon. So yesterday was my last day of doing the sauna or the heat training. I've been trying to stay in for at least 20 minutes to 30, and then on top of that, trying to do some of my runs or almost like forced to, but also having to do some of my runs mid-morning or closer to the lunch time. So between 10 and noon when it's starting to get hot. And so that's I think helpful. So I've been, I think, because I'm feeling pretty good. Um, I don't feel like I've lost the benefit of altitude yet. So I feel like it might be working, like I'm actually kind of maintaining some of that benefit, maybe getting an additional adaptation of having a higher sweat rate and being able to adapt a little better in the sense of um being able to um be acclimated to the humidity, because even though the race itself might be a little bit cooler than where I'm at right now, um, it's probably still going to be pretty humid in Minnesota. So I'm hoping that by having this time to yes, lose maybe some of the benefits of altitude, and we'll kind of see with the heat training if that's helped, but be able to then gain some more, some different benefits or maintain the best I can the benefits of altitude and then gain the benefits of being able to uh stay uh or main, you know, be able to adapt and and almost tolerate the humidity better. Because I think it's shocking when you go from like Colorado where it's extremely dry heat to somewhere where it's very humid. I think that can be kind of shocking. So I'm hoping that those things will really help the marathon. Um I was able to find a little bit of information there. So essentially the heat training like produces the altitude-induced cardiovascular gains. Um, it just prevents the decay of the hemoglobin mass, the the red blood cell um decay that can happen when you return to sea level. So we'll see. I mean, that's kind of what I'm finding. There's a little bit of uh research potentially on this, but uh maybe not a ton just because it's newer, you know, these these sorts of experiments and things people do with altitude and and heat training, or um we're just kind of learning more and more about how they improve performance. So this is really just kind of an experiment I'm doing more than anything on myself just to see. And, you know, it's been fascinating. Um, I've kind of enjoyed the sauna. It's not terrible, it's actually kind of nice. I wish that there was a sauna closer, like in where I live, or they had a sauna option instead of the hot tub because I like the hot tub, but it's actually a little bit easier, honestly, even though it's essentially hotter to sit in the hot in the sauna. But um yeah, I'll obviously we'll kind of see what will happen. I've got four days, three days until the race. So I've got Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then the race. Um so we'll kind of see if any of this has made a difference and if I've taped timed my taper correctly, we'll um we'll see about that too. It's a little bit interesting to kind of try to get that right. But based off the way I felt this morning, I'm feeling pretty good. Um, like I said, taking tomorrow off, and then hopefully that'll even help more and doing just relaxing the most I can. Um, did a little work today trying to get this podcast out too, and then I have basically some days to relax and focus on carbloading and a little bit of travel, but not a huge travel day just from Vermont to Minnesota isn't too bad, just a one-hour time difference. So I'm excited, optimistic, and really I think mentally going into it, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm like I said, trying not to overthink about it, over stress, but I am trying to keep my mind on it and kind of thinking about it, but not sort of anxiety, worrying about it, because it's going to be what it's going to be. And, you know, the weather's changed on and off. It's looking a little bit warmer than it was, but you know, still in a few days it could change a little bit. So um I'm, you know, trying not to overly obsess about that either, and just kind of going into it, realizing that there's a lot of stuff still kind of out of my control, but I can control what I can control. So I'm gonna control my carb load, I'm gonna control my fluid intake, and just kind of doing what I need to do to feel good and um relax and let my body recover fully. And yeah, I'm excited. I think the next, like I said, the next time I am back is going to be when I am done and it's over. But um, wish me luck. I think the race starts at 7:45 on Saturday. That is central time. So um, that's when the my corral, I'm in the first corral, that's when I'll go off. And I've heard it's a beautiful course in Long Lake Superior. So I'll also let you know how I like the course and how it all ends up. But either way, it's another marathon, and that's a lot, you know, just accomplishing getting to the starting line is a amazing feat sometimes, just with all the training and the potential setbacks. And um, so I'm just trying to kind of enjoy the the taper and the process and and the last few days I have um here in Vermont before traveling. But yeah, thanks to you all, thank you all for listening. Maybe I gave you some food for thought for heat training. Um, I think the other thing I wanted to mention there is just the frequency. I don't know if I mentioned that, but from what I could gather, to get the more rapid benefits, you almost have to do it almost every day for seven days. Um, but if you want to just kind of get more slow benefits, doing it three times a week can be helpful. Um I think anything less than two is probably not as helpful. So for my case, I was trying to do as many frequent bounces as I could while I've been here. I think I got three or four sauna days and then a couple, two or three actual hot heat days in the heat. But I think in order to maintain the benefit, that's probably good enough from what I could gather. So if you are kind of considering that or wanting to try heat training, I think it to gather get that rapid benefit of like seven to fourte days, you almost have to do it daily. And there's definitely um a risk to that if you're doing it while you're training, because heat can be very depleting. Um, if you're doing it while training, so it maybe make more sense to do it like run in the heat two to three times a week. But if you're using the sauna, you could probably do it a little more often, just to make sure you're hydrating and plenty of electrolytes. And um, I think there was something I was gonna add, but I think just um, you know, being careful with it too and not not over overdoing it because I think sometimes there's a tendency to a little bit as good, more is better situation, and it's definitely a stress on on the body. I mean, I was watching my heart rate go up a bit, almost not quite up to 140, like I've seen some people say. Um, I know I mean that sauna was hot, but it was definitely a little bit elevated, so it's something to kind of think about. There's a little bit of a stress on the body, so you don't want to overdo it. And also um, from what I was reading, trying to combine altitude and heat can also be a bit risky because they're both a little bit of stress, especially if you're going from sea level to altitude to train. It probably isn't wise to add then heat on top of that. But if you're already at altitude like I was, it's probably a little more safe because my body's already used to it. So that's my last little bit on that is kind of forgot to mention, but just a couple more things to keep in mind at the heat training. Um, you know, I think it's always worth experimenting a little bit on yourself to see some people respond differently to different things. And sometimes when we're already running in the summer, we're already heat training without even knowing it. So there's also the possibility you're already heat trained if you've already been dealing with the heat and humidity without even having to add the sauna. But uh, this might be something to consider over the winter time to maintain some of those benefits. Um, but either way, I hope that's helpful. Thanks a lot for listening, and I will see you all next week when I do my recap of the marathon. All right. Bye.