Heavy Metal, Iron Maiden, Burning Feet in Warped Heat?
I woke up Wednesday morning July 4th, 2012 with a day off …….
It was a sweltering 103° degrees today after adding the heat index it was over 110° degrees!!!
I got up at 11 a.m, did some errands and ventured out for my barefoot run.
After 10 steps on that sizzling concrete I felt shots of burning pain into my soles like I stepped into a heavy metal sizzling skillet!
Now I know what my friend Jaya J means when she says its tough to run barefoot in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
I decided to swim at the pool until it cooled down.
At 5:30pm I thought it had cooled down just enough.
Lake Shore Drive running path
It was 95° degrees, a good start to a barefoot run, the Chicago skyscrapers were casting a shadow on the concrete. I was on the Lake Shore Drive running path.
There I was off for my barefoot run…..
I decided to extend the mileage this time to 5 ½ – 6 miles.
By the time I got through the first mile I felt like I was breathing fire.
Fire like a breathing dragon from my parched mouth that I had. The weather was sapping all my fluids but I wasn’t sweating. That will throw you off!
So by the time I got to the fifth mile my barefoot running turned into barefoot walking because the heat was causing extreme fatigue.
I was experiencing weakness and fatigue which turned into pain and fatigue.
Here is a great article which documents Effects of Heat on Performance in running by Brian Beatty that is very interesting.
He says:
If you run in some serious summer heat and are disappointed with your time or pace relative to your effort, check out the Tinman’s Heat Index and Running Performance chart by Tim Schwartz (2009). This handy chart, posted below, will give you a rough estimate of how your race or training pace in the high heat equates to what your pace would have been, roughly, at the ideal 50-53° F range.
One of the reasons being that the heat from the concrete was apparently burning my feet.
There is no chart for that except the feeling you get in your feet when you run.
Thursday Morning, July 5, when I woke up I have to admit I was extremely tired.
I was doing a fatigue analysis to figure out whether it was the barefoot run, the heat, or something else.
I thought that today was a good test for extreme fatigue or what I call, body fatigue!
It was time to do pain exorcisms at the office all day until 9:00 p.m.
I went out for lunch asked for my glass of water and remembered drinking it down.
I ended up drinking 5 glasses of water at lunch.
I figured out why I was so exhausted. It was severe dehydration.
By 4:00 p.m. I felt myself again but asked my staff if it was possible that I go home early, have a healthy dinner and rest.
They said we wrap it up at 5:30pm.
I headed home and the first thing that was on my mind was parking the car, going up the elevator to the 70thfloor to ‘Citi Restaurant’ for a cool glass of water and a plate of salmon.
I placed my order looked out the window at the beautiful city view listening to Michael Buble’, sighed with bliss when the phone rang.
It was a number I had not seen before and that meant it was probably going to be a tour manager for some artist, a Broadway actor or some athlete having an emergency.
Sure enough it was ‘Live Nation‘ calling, they needed me to come to the ‘First Midwest Bank Amphitheater’ and work with Iron Maiden.
The organizers said that if I could get there by 7:00 pm. there would be a big bonus for me. It was 10 minutes after six and I was 70 stories up, my car was in valet parking, then there was rush-hour traffic on Lake Shore Drive. Even on a good day, it would take me 45 minutes to get to that theater in the boonies (Tinley Park).
I am happy to say that I did manage to get there by 7:20 pm. I set up my treatment table and met with some of the crew from Iron Maiden that I had worked with before in 2006. It was so good to see them.
Dr. James Stoxen DC Warped Tour 2009
The assignment was a success, all were really happy so I thanked Chris for the call and headed out.
If you’re going to be at the ‘Warped Tour‘ on Saturday you’ll see me, working. I hope its not too hot!
The ‘Warped Tour’ production usually gets me an air-conditioned trailer to work with them but sometimes I’m on the porch outside backstage.
This will be the eighth year I have worked for those guys, Kerry, Kevin, Lisa and everyone else!!!
Im looking forward to seeing you there!!!
For ticket information click here
