207ºF

120ºF would actually be mild for Badwater

Among the training necessary to successfully run the Badwater Ultramarathon,Tony has to acclimate his body to handle the brutal heat that Death Valley can deliver in the middle of July. He does this by daily sauna training - spending increasing amounts of time in a hot room.

Amazingly, he found a gym in Westchester that sports an insane 207ºF sauna, and last night invited me to be his guest.

After a 3-mile treadmill run (that I did in 27:35, by the way), I joined him in the hot room. I took off my shirt and went in wearing only shorts. Tony was wearing a long-sleeve t-shirt with a sweatshirt over it. Gnarly. He'd be in there 25 minutes.

I weighed myself before going in. Took my weight holding a 48-ounce bottle full of fresh cold water.

Replaced 48oz of water, and still lost half a lb

Initially curious as to whether I'd be able to handle a mere ten minutes, I surprised myself when I was still there feeling good after 15. I ended up doing the same 25 minutes Tony did, although considerably less dressed. I had finished the entire 48 ounces of water.

Holding the now-empty bottle I took my weight after, and was down 1/2 lb. If a pint of water (16oz) weighs 1 pound, then I sweated out at least 56oz of water in that 25 minutes. I feel extremely conservative in rounding that up to a clean half-gallon, as I was holding a dry towel going in and a wet towel coming out, plus my shorts were soaked.

Yes, I sweated out a half-gallon of water in 25 minutes, and replaced only 48 ounces.

Nuts, right?




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