My Muddy Life: Dehydrated and Overheated

Life Leaf Remedies - My Muddy Life - Dehydrated and Overheated

Myles takes a step back for a week

Last Monday I dehydrated AND overheated trying to run in the middle of a 90+ degree afternoon here in Texas. Anything under 95 in the summer in Texas is typically considered mild. Oddly enough, we haven’t had very many days at or over 90 degrees yet this season. Usually by the end of May we’ve had plenty of 90+ degree days, and we’re on the cusp of triple digits.

By this time of year, a 92 degree afternoon should be no big deal for me. If that isn’t the mentality that gets us in trouble more than anything else, I don’t know what is. Too often we convince ourselves to let our guard down because something bad didn’t happen before. Instead, we should be evaluating the circumstances in front of us objectively.

If I’m being honest with myself about last Monday, not only did I under-estimate the heat and sun, I also forgot to properly hydrate myself. After being in this routine for almost 2 months, I didn’t think one day of being relaxed with my routine wouldn’t be a big deal. I was flat out wrong.

The next 36 hours were filled with chills, headache, low appetite, and weakness. Once you’ve let yourself get to that point, the battle back is slow and difficult. Not unlike a hangover.

I was fully recovered in about 36 hours, but I gave it a few more days before getting back to training. It’s early enough in training that we can afford an abundance of caution, which is just as important for Dalton as it is for me. Whether it’s him experiencing a setback with his knee, or either of us pushing too hard and being sidelined for another reason, we’re far better off exercising caution to avoid setbacks right now.

Dalton is BACK on the track!

After having ACL surgery in March, Dalton has officially been cleared to start running, and has logged his first few runs. Not quite at the pace he’s used to, but massive steps in the right direction. The first big test for Dalton’s knee will be the Tough Mudder in Colorado in July. It can be tempting to push harder than we should, but it’s just as important to take recovery serious the same way we take training seriously… I learned that the hard way.

Don’t underestimate the importance of proper recovery

I didn’t want to risk any additional steps backwards, so I stayed inside and replenished as much as I could for the next 6 days. Lots of hydrating, stretching, some core strength work, and lots of Deep Comforts to be as aggressive with recovery as I am with training.

Overlooking the importance of recovery can be a foolish mistake. Recovering properly can have big net positive impacts. It is the difference between steps forwards and steps backwards throughout your training journey. If you are taking any number of days without working out, and you don’t approach recovery seriously, you risk injury and a lower quality workout than you would have had with intentional recovery.

Stretch and hydrate. It cannot be overstated. Stretch and hydrate.

We even wrote a blog about it, here… which makes it even more ridiculous that I allowed myself to get dehydrated.

Colorado Mudder, here we come!

We are officially signed up to run the Infinity race at the Tough Mudder in Byers, CO at the end of July. If you make it out there and see one of us, ask us about free products! We will be handing out natural remedies to help people feel better, just come say hi.

Follow along!

As we rack up the mileage during training, and all the way through the World’s Toughest Mudder, you can follow along and run with us. Look us up on the Garmin Connect app or the Strava app. We would love to meet some of the local DFW running community.

Life Leaf Remedies - My Muddy Life - 5.22.23 Dehydrated and Overheated Run
Life Leaf Remedies - My Muddy Life - 5.28.23 Afternoon Run
Life Leaf Remedies - My Muddy Life - 5.29.23 Afternoon Run
Life Leaf Remedies - My Muddy Life - 5.30.23 Team Training
Life Leaf Remedies - My Muddy Life - 6.1.23 Afternoon Run
Life Leaf Remedies - My Muddy Life - 6.2.23 Night Run
Life Leaf Remedies - My Muddy Life training to-date - Garmin app

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