Tag: heat

Too much sun = Ouch

Apparently I can run 13 miles in the sun and be fine, but a few hours at the beach paddle boarding? That really kicked my ass. By Sunday night, I had a splitting headache, I even tried sleeping with an icepack. Woke up Monday still feeling crappy but dragged myself to work. I only made it half way through the day though. 😦 One crappy thing about a commute is that once you leave work sick, you still have to drive all the way home!

I did make it home, showered and crawled into bed with a blanket. You know it’s bad when you’re sleeping in the middle of the day with a blanket. Particularly when it’s almost 100 outside. So much for Monday’s planned run. I still felt poorly on Tuesday so I took another rest day. Slacker! On the upside, two days off gave the burned tops of my feet a little more time to heal. 🙂

I planned to do an easy 2.5 miles on Wednesday, just 2 laps around the park. However my friend was unable to make it. My mother had been texting me that she wanted to walk while I ran, so I said ok. Downside of not stopping halfway like planned? An extra 10 degrees. When I parked my car, the internal thermometer read a nice toasty 100. Oh boy! But I was gonna take it easy right? So I changed, grabbed water and was out the door.

Even the trees look hot :( — Even the trees look hot 😦

Had to fix a shoelace, so I bent over to tighten it. A little over half a mile later, I realized I was missing something. I had never picked my water bottle back up! Seriously where was my head? But I pushed on cursing the hills and missing the nice flat lake path. Finished 3.5 miles, some very slow miles. I am telling myself that any forward motion is a good thing, right?

Now I just have to work out when to get in a 6.5-7 mile long run before Sunday and I will be on track. Plus I have a 5k next week to look forward to!!

Anyone have any races to be excited about in the future?

I run, why can’t I do this?!

Apparently working in a town that rarely gets above 72 has killed my heat resistance. Living in a town that averages triple digits in the summer makes that a problem. Today’s workout was only around 90, but holy hotness I was dying.

Hit the track with the intention of doing 5 miles. Ha! I maintained race pace for 2 miles, then did some speed work for the remaining 2 miles, completing only 4. I think I finally started to notice a difference in my running after 27 days of squats. Running the straights, I felt like my legs were working more efficiently even if the heat was kicking my butt. Of the course, the breeze didn’t pick until I was done running. After running, I decided the grass looked nice and comfy 🙂

So my mother was there too, having absolutely no problems with the heat. Then she spends most of her time in it, she’s the tennis coach. Before we left, she challenged me to do some ins and outs? Umm, do what now? So we went over near the tennis courts, where I saw ladders painted on the ground. I got it now.

So she demonstrated. I thought, “sure no problem”. Ha!! I couldn’t even complete one. So it’s an in then out pattern with each foot, so 1-2 in, 3-4 out, repeat. I kept turning it into hopscotch! She does it 5 more times and I fail every time. I thought I was somewhat coordinated, apparently not 😦 It was a good thing no one else was around, because the more I messed up, the more colorful and vocal I became.

New goal, complete these damn ladders. Will attempt it again next weekend, fingers crossed! Anyone else have problems with these or is it just me?

The Slacker Way

So, yeah the 4^th of July planned run didn’t happen, the weatherman lied! Over 100 again, too hot even for the chair, couldn’t even be a Slacker the right way.

So a little bit about the Slacker way:

My goal is to run 3 times a week, cross train twice and have two rest days. In the beginning I stuck to the training plan really well. Then come January, I was offered a promotion in a different town and began commuting every day. The plan took a hit 😦 I managed to stick to the running 3 times a week but the cross training took the hardest hit. I had been riding a stationary bike twice a week as my cross training. It was helping my running; I felt that it helped with my breathing which in turn helped my pace. Then the slacker-ness set.

Over the past few months, my training has looked somewhat like this- Run Monday, Wednesday and one weekend day. I play in a volleyball league on Tuesdays so I was treating that as cross training (ha!). As for my runs, I would aim for one speed-work and one long run and the other would just fall in the middle. Shortest run would be around 3.5 and my long run around 5.5 when not training. My running has at least stayed on pace and I can see improvement in my times, so woo hoo for that!!!

This week after posting and reading what everyone else was posting, I just felt like more of a Slacker than usual. I ran on Tuesday and Wednesday plus volleyball on Tuesday but not following through with a run on the 4^th just made me sad, hehe. So Saturday afternoon in the middle of a migraine and the nausea that came with it, I was like what the heck, let’s hit the track.

I love the track, for me it’s faster than a treadmill (boring!) and it’s a good place to go when you are feeling a little crappy. So much easier it walk back to your car than 3 miles back to your house :). Plus, when I run the track my mother joins me to exercise as well. It’s perfect, she does her pace and I do mine. Also good to have someone there when you are feeling wobbly. So my goal was to out run my headache. I figured an easy 45 minute run would help, bring on those endorphins! Forgot that I have troubles with the Easy part when on the track, oops! But even though I pushed harder than I should have (not the best idea) I defeated the headache!!!

As a reward for the 4.5 miles, the weather cooperated enough to make the comfy chair comfy again, yeah!!!!

And on Sunday, I followed through and got back on the bike! 8 miles done, heck yeah!!!! Now, if I can just keep it up:)

Heat = Lazy Runner

So my neck of the woods has just come off of an excessive heat warning. Perfect for running, right?

Five days of temperatures above 110 makes it really easy to be a slacker runner. It was so unbearably hot that even my comfy chair was a no go. Felt like a dang sauna for your backside, ugh. To make matters worse, I got sick last Friday. Seriously, who gets the flu in the summer? My body couldn’t decide if it was shivering with the chills or melting from the heat.

After the lovely knockout of heat and flu, I was forced to run even less than a slacker like me likes to. Being a commuter as well as inherently lazy makes running in the morning and avoiding the heat highly unlikely for me, I like sleep! With the drop in training and lingering icky feeling, I was forced to postpone a race that I had planned to complete on July 4^th. This totally bites as I was hoping for a new 5k PR there:(. I know the course really well and was very optimistic. Cue inner scream.

I did manage to go for a run this evening after work; if 2.5 miles counts as a run. Since I couldn’t do the race tomorrow, I did the course tonight instead. Turned out to be a hotter 86 than I felt ready for. It was almost 7:00 PM for crying out loud. I actually maintained a decent pace throughout the run but just felt so sluggish. I have a 10k a week from Saturday so I need to get it in gear! Less slacker, more of a runner!

Tomorrow is actually supposed to be below 100, so I am aiming for a good 5 mile run at the local track. Here’s to hoping for a good pace, good overall run followed by some good 4^th of July fun!

And maybe after all that, I can get back to the comfy chair.

Happy 4^th of July!!