1. Agios Ioannis: Hill training
Holidays were booked already month ago but with my running shoes and rucksack I can train everywhere. It was actually quite handy to travel to a warm country before going to Brazil. Now I got an Idea how I feel training during the heat.
My friend Sonia got married in Agios Ioannis in Greece and she told me beforehand that they have massive hills where I could hike up and down. I went up the hill on the road and then off-road. That was fun and I enjoyed exploring the area. Olive trees everywhere and an amazing view but I also scratched my leg just after 2 minutes; it really hurts and was annoying me the whole time. Maybe I should were long instead of shorts in the Jungle.
Beautiful view: Agios Ioannis Greece
First try off-road: Between Olives trees and getting scratched my decision was made to were long compression tights instead of shorts in the Amazon.
2. Athens: Heat, water, sand and equipment test
My second stop in Greece was Athens were part of my family is living. Between preparing lunch, playing hide and seek, changing pampers and bringing my lovely cousins to bed, I went for a run along the beach. This was mainly taking the opportunity to train in different weather conditions than in London. But I also wanted to test out my gear.
Route in Athens: Old Faliron to the beach and back.
First I just wanted to wet my feet…but then I decided to go for a swim fully dressed.
Perfect terrain to test out my new trail running shoes.
Finally I found another challenge to test my balance and climbing skills…
==> Summarising my experience I would say that training in the heat of 28 C. showed me that my heart rate will rise quicker than usual. Therefore I definitely need to keep an eye on it and take it easy the first few days.
Due to the incident I had I realized that it would bother me more feeling burning pain from scratched skin instead of feeling hot in long trousers. Once I have been into the water the long running
tights had a cooling effect on the skin. On the one hand I like wearing long tights to protect and cool my legs but on the other hand I don’t like the wet long sleeve on my arms for a long time. I bought special performance tops which should dry quickly but once they are fully wet it will be even harder to dry in the humility of the Amazon. Therefore I will go for my short sleeve T-Shirt which has a loose style for more comfort feeling.
Last but not least I had the chance to run on different terrain like sand, small stones, earth and grass on the same run. My feet had to adapt to the different terrain and it will be exhausting for the ankle muscles. This means I have to concentrate on watching carefully where I am going to avoid twisting my ankle.
This all leads to the most important part of my gear: the running shoes! I was able to test out my new shoes and absolutely love them. But I have to say it was hard to find them and it took me a few weeks to find the right shoe that fit all the criteria’s.
My choice: Inov8 ROCLITE™ 268