This week's runs

ok so I didn't put any comments about my Tuesday and Thursday runs. I guess I have to get better at this. After all, putting this blog together was my idea. Right?? Both runs this week were tough. Tuesday was a tough day because I worked from home while the hot water tank was getting fixed. I didn't eat right, didn't feel right and as a result, didn't have a good run. In fact, I didn't even run the entire 4.8 miles. I bailed after 3.8. Every once in a while it happens. I try to live by my own advice which is "listen to your body". Thursday's run was good but was tough. It was very hot (88 degrees according to the truck's thermometer). I found it very humid and didn't seem to have a lot of steam at the end. Sharon kicked my butt with her final sprint into the finish. We did talk about having Tuesday be our speed work. Now that I see Richard having success with speed work once a week, maybe it's worth it. We would then have one speed work out, one tempo short run and a long run for building endurance per week. I think that works for me.

Today is Saturday so the long run is over for this week too. The group was running 7 miles but I ran 2 before I joined them. I wanted to try to stay close to 9 if I can. So far so good. Today was one of those days when I realize that 96% humidity is hard even if the temperature is in the high seventys. My shoes were soaked about 7 miles into the run. My pants were dripping with 1 mile to go. It was a strange feeling. I started to get a stitch on the last mile so one of the guys volunteered to push Marin for the last mile. I was so happy that I handed her off to him. This gave me the opportunity to stand up straighter and let my chest expand more. This seemed to help me alleviate the tension. The rest of the final mile was good. I managed to average 11 mile miles per my watch which includes the water break and the lights at US1. According to our run leader, Edwin, that means we are right on target for our 10 min/mile pace. That's great news!! I really don't want to run faster in this heat over the long distances. It's just too hot. I am really looking forward to running in cooler weather. Right now, I would be happy with less humidity. Every little bit helps.

Good Saturday run

As I put in my title today's run was good but a little tough. I started out on my own (well, with Marin of course) for a mile and a half before the group run. I parked at the breakfast place so I could finish right at breakfast. GREAT IDEA! Richard was running 18 miles so we could all have breakfast together. ....back to the run. The group had a good pace and we were running in the 9s for most of the intervals. We only had to run 6 today so the extra 3 was good. I ran 9 in total. My average heart rate was much better at 166 bpm. Over the last year, I seem to average between 164 and 167 on the long runs. I still am not taking in enough shot blocks. I cannot seem to be consistent when I run with Marin. On my own, the routine is there but I struggle to remember when I have the stroller. We are also running mile intervals so it's possible that I am so excited about the break that I forget to take in fuel. Something to work on.... Breakfast after the run was great. The last two weeks I have been a little nauseous after eating. It's probably the heat because it happened last week too. I will watch for this. Richard mentioned that he felt the same way, but then again, he ran 18 miles vs my 9!

I didn't post my Thursday run comments so here they are. Because we had a dinner party on Wednesday night (who does that anyway????), Richard was going to run Thursday evening so I decided to try to run at lunch from the office. That was a CRAZY idea! It was smokin' hot!! Near 100 or so they tell me. I tried to run in the shade but I didn't do a very good job. I had mapped out a route which clearly needs to be changed if I am ever to do that again. I managed to run 4 miles but I have to admit that I stopped a few times more than usual. It was also a strange run because I couldn't seem to regulate my pace. My legs wanted to go faster than my heart could take. Probably because of the heat! I did finish and was very happy to be finished. I returned to work but was a little more tired than usual. I slept like a rock on Thursday night! I fell asleep in front of the tv around 9pm. Too funny. I put Marin to bed, ate dinner, cleaned up and then passed out. Sleep never felt so good!