Hot run

What's better than a mid-day 6 mile run with the temperature at 90 degrees plus, and heavy, heavy humidity? And no wind, by the way.

Everything and anything... But I had that hankering to do a tough run.  It had been a big weekend of drinking and eating and I had a lot of bad ju-ju that I wanted to sweat out. So I had good cause…

I got myself prepped with the necessary goodies for a "you-must-be-crazy-to-run-in-this-heat" kind of a run: Vaseline, sunscreen, a camel-back loaded with ice, a sweat-wicking skull cap, and sunglasses. And off I went – and I had a great, but tough, run.

I kept myself at a very easy pace, 9:50-10:15 min/mile pace and never got to a point where I was predominately breathing through my mouth (For me, that’s a key indicator of my aerobic intensity. If I’m breathing through my mouth 100% of the time, I know that my heart rate is pushing 130bps, and so if I’m breathing mostly through my nose while running I know that my heart rate is likely around 120 or so.

But it was hot, so hot and muggy!  My route had a lot of shade trees, but I had stretches of a half-mile or more that had no shade whatsoever, and those parts were brutal.

I started out sipping water from my camel back every half mile, and then later in the run when I was feeling the most heat (and I was definitely hot from exertion) I started drinking much more often as well as soaking my skull cap with the cold water from my camel back. I got hot enough that I took a walk break in a shady area at mile 5 so that I could cool myself down after a long stretch in the sun.

But overall it was a great, focused, run. I felt that I ran with purpose and determination. It goes without saying that the plunge into the pool afterwards was awesome. And I definitely felt like had relieved myself of most of the bad ju-ju... I know I have a good sweat going when the sweat is flying off my fingers as I run.

I lost 3 pounds during my run, despite constantly taking in fluids.  According to an article that I read, that equates to 3 pints of water loss – which sounds pretty crazy.  A three pound loss also comes out to 1.8% body weight loss for me, which I think is within the safe zone of temporary weight loss due to sweating fluids out. But the 3 pints of water still sounds nuts to me. That would be on top of all the water that I drank while running (which turned out to be ~2 pints). Hmmm

training interrupted (by life...) but I still got 17 miles in

When there are 4 weeks to go prior to a marathon I'm not one to want to make any serious changes or deviations from my training plan. But unfortunately life happens, deviations take place, and somehow or another I'll compensate, recover, and do well.

With 4 weeks to go to the marathon I've gotten myself involved in a project that has totally inhaled my time. Last week I managed to squeeze in 13 miles, but the week before was a paltry 3 miles, and I felt guilty doing those 3. The only upside is that the project involves a heavy measure of physical exercise, so I had been calling it "cross-training" - except that it didn't help me today.

Today, after not being able to get my last long run in a week ago, and before tapering for the MCM, I got in 17 miles. I wanted to do 20, but the humidity was too much, and more importantly, boy did I feel the effects of not running. The last long run of any significance was 19 days prior, not counting a 6 miler that I got in 3 days ago. My endurance levels seemed to be ok, but my legs were not there. And I'm guessing that it is because they had been on vacation for too long. With 18 days to go, I am going to have to adapt my taper to make sure that my legs don't forget how to run without negating the positive effects of the tapering period.

My point here is that I'm very surprised by how much not keeping up with a 20-30 mile per week routine affected me today. I realize that everybody is different and I am sure that some people, probably most people, are not affected by a gap in their running schedule. But clearly, I am. What I've learned is that I will loose what little edge I have if I am not constantly on top of it.

The 17 miles that I did, albeit in the very, very high humidity of FL, have totally drained my legs. They feel soooo done. I'm going to force myself to do at least a 2 mile run/walk tomorrow, and then step into my regular taper prior to the marathon.

Quick aside:  I did my run with bananas and a single gu. I strapped the bananas to my waist belt with velcro cable ties, ate one at mile 4 and the other at mile 12, sucking down the gu at mile 8.  Awesome.

I'm jazzed and excited. 18 days to go !

hot and humid but good

It is very hot and humid in the Metro DC area.  My morning run didn't get going until 8:30 (slow start and had other things to take care of first), so it was 75deg and humid by the time I got out there. Today's run was to be 6 miles. And oddly enough, despite the heat, it was a good run!

I was only pre-fueled on two small pieces of whole wheat bread with peanut butter and a couple of cups of coffee and until the last hill, I felt pretty good.  I did a gu at around mile 3.5 and that obviously helped.

My route was two 3-mile loops that give me, for each loop, about a 2 mile downhill grade (about a 200ft drop) and then 200ft uphill for the last mile.  That last mile up is always a killer, and today it really was - but I never once stopped running (I wasn't running real fast at the end, but I wasn't walking...!).  And then once I was done, I got my dog and we did a 1-mile walk.

I've been getting into the habit of walking my dogs immediately after running and I think that this has really helped my recovery. Prior to this, I didn't usually just collapse into a chair after running, but I probably was not moving around as much as doing a mile walk with the dogs...  Maybe it's just all in my head.

What was amazing about today's run was that I was clipping along at a pretty nice pace and I wasn't even trying.  I managed to PB my time for this particular route and I seriously was not even thinking about it.  I was just running at a pace that felt good.  After mile 4.5 I knew that I was getting tired and I still had that last mile, all uphill, coming up, so I tried to let up a bit in order to rejuvenate myself some and I still managed to run a sub 8min/mile split (this was all due to the downhill slope). Nevertheless, I did the last mile, all uphill, in 9min - and I'll take that with pride considering the weather and my pre-run fueling.

I was definitely nearing the end of my capacity though, heat and nutrition-wise - I was starting into get that foggy mental state where it's hard to do even simple math (yeah, I do that to pass the time sometimes... calculating times, what if's, splits, paces, etc... square roots...).  I was so hot at the end that instead of walking around a bit before entering my building I went straight inside so that I could get out of the sun.  I carry a small washcloth with me so that I can wipe my face and head, mostly to keep the sweat from getting into my eyes, and it was drenched by the time I was done - so wet that I could wring it out.

I want to get another 6-7 mile run in this week before my long run (12 miles) this weekend, but need to figure out how to finesse them in between various social engagements... Plus I want to have a rest day before the long run.

123 days to the MCM !!!