Acclimating

As biology major we were always reminded that adaptations are based in heredity and occur over generations due to natural selection.  If we are going to be technical, humans haven't noticeably adapted in a very long time.  In kinesiology we use the word adapt all the time to describe the bodies ability to change itself to become more suitable for the environment in which it is performing.  What we really are referring to is acclimation.  This is something humans especially athletes are doing all the time; we are exposing ourselves to environmental stress in order to 'practice' surviving and ultimately thriving despite this novel stimulus.  The goal is for harsh conditions to become the new normal and the old normal to become the new easy.  If you have grown up in Minnesota you get this.  30 degrees on Halloween is worthy of snowsuits, but 30 degrees in middle of January is without a doubt t-shirt skiing weather.  Maybe it's just me but sometimes I forget the principle still applies early on in the summer.  I have been on a few runs the last couple weeks in which I have for no clear reason felt like I was 60 years old, 50 pounds overweight, and running for the first time in my life...okay maybe I exaggerate but the point is acclimation takes some time and it's not easy.  Running in heat and humidity places a different demand on water balance, circulation, respiration, perspiration, and all metabolic processes.  In addition, our central nervous system fatigues in response to increases in core body temperature to prevent us from working our bodies into a heat injury.  The temperature threshold at which we fatigue is much lower after training in cool weather compared to after acclimating to a warm climate.  We acclimate weather just as we acclimate to hill running, or high mileage, or taking icebaths, or doing pushups.  Acclimation is definition of all things training.  It's what makes us tough peripherally and centrally, physically and mentally.

I'm working on a class assignment on the Making of East African Distance runners.  What is it about their environment that molds these people into incredible talents?  Straight from Paul Tergat, "it's really hard work simple as that, there is nothing magic."   Here is a great video  on Kenyan training, also try searching chasingkimbia, and Iten running.  I may write more on the subject later, but my point is that athletes need to be stress innoculated, a term used in the book On Combat by Dave Grossman.  Our best races or training sessions often seem easy.  This is not because what we do it is easy, it's just because comfort and effort are relative, just as 30 degrees F means nothing out of context.

Here is the kicker, though, environments are not static and climates (usually) can't be controlled.  I haven't looked it up but something tells me that Iten trained runners haven't taken home too many titles in the Antarctic marathon.  Rapid change is the greatest stress of all.  As stated in the wise philosophy of Grey's Anatomy ; ) "Change. We don't like it. We fear it, but we can't stop it from coming. We either adapt to change or we get left behind. It hurts to grow, anybody who tells you it doesn't is lying, but here's the truth sometimes the more things change the more they stay the same. And sometimes, oh, sometimes change is good. Sometimes change is everything."

So with that, I'll be chasing flexibility,
Laura