Warm Weather - My Kryptonite

It probably seems very wrong to criticize the fabulous temperate weather we enjoy here in the Sunshine State. I mean, how many other states are seeing 85 degree weather this early in the Spring? Better yet, how many other states get shorts and T-shirt days in the middle of December, like we got this year? Yes, warm weather is a blessing, especially when you take into consideration the 40 below temperatures people in states less fortunate have to endure on an annual basis.

Warm weather is great. It saves me a lot of money on sweaters and coats and the like. And I love sunshine. I really do. Not many things cheer me up the way blue sunny skies do. Speaking of blue sunny skies, I have an interesting side story. Enter flashback mode...

... The year is 2002. Kir-wei, Eric, Colin, Jelani, Pimchand, Tom, and myself are in Xian, China, "studying" abroad. In reality, there wasn't that much studying going on. We actually took nearly a month off to travel around China on that trip. However, this day, we were actually at school. A typical school day for Kir-wei, Eric, Colin, and myself (the "advanced" class) included two hours of either Listening or Conversation in the early afternoon with a fifteen minute break in the middle, then half hour break, and then either History or Reading in the late afternoon. Tom, Jelani, and Pimchand (the "intermediate" class) had the opposite schedule, with more fundamental material. During the break, the two classes would hang out together in the break room, which had a bunch of couches and a number of nice big windows where we could look outside. I often looked outside to enjoy the view, and during school, the outside world always looked so nice, sunny, and blue. I often commented on how blue the sky looked, therefore implying what a nice day it must be.

One day, after classes, we headed out of the building, and I looked back towards the windows and made a shocking discovery - the big windows in our break room, unlike the small windows in the classroom, were tinted blue! This came as a huge surprise. However, in retrospect, it should not have been so surprising. Anyone who has been to Xian, one of the four "ovens" of China, knows that there is enough dust in the air on most days to make both brand new black or white leather shoes the same brown by the end of the day. Not that it's not beautiful - Xian is a very beautiful city and I love it - just usually kind of dusty. Still, it was a huge disappointment when I found out that I was deceived this whole time by tinted windows...

Back to 2006, I really do like sunny blue skies, and I really do appreciate warm weather. However, in the past few years, ever since I began training outside, I noticed that in the cool winter months, my training sessions last longer and are far more effective than in the summer. I don't even think it's about the sweat. I can handle sweat, which is a good thing because I have a lot of it. Heat is my kryptonite. I really think it just eats away at my inner energy. These past few days, my body has felt weak. I was training yesterday, and I literally could not complete a set at full strength, nearly falling down several times. Warm weather is really horrible conditions for training. I don't know how those football players do it.