June 28, 2013

A humid long run

Phoebe is driving me INSANE with her wake-up calls every day. Literally, every single day, she wakes me up. First, she was scratching her nails on the carpet. I finally started ignoring that, rather than scold her, hoping she'd just give up. So now she plays around in my window blinds, which is even louder. She tries to climb in between the slats, and then positions herself between the blinds and the window, making a ton of noise in the process. She's been doing this at 5:15 every morning.

Anyway, I was up bright and early, but I had decided to do my run on the treadmill today. I was feeling anxious about running long outside after how I felt last week. So I ate breakfast, and while I was drinking my tea, I was reading through my latest issue of Runner's World magazine, which is a special issue about the Boston bombings.

Reading through that really inspired me to take the run outside, and stop worrying about it. So I decided to drive to the Metropark and do two six-mile out-and-back routes from my car. It wasn't super hot (72 degrees--hotter than ideal for running, but it could have been worse for late June), but it was very humid (78% humidity).

My plan was to just keep my heart rate in Zone 3 (139-155 bpm). I brought my handheld water bottle with me (knowing I'd have to stop at the water fountains to refill a couple of times). I also brought along my point-and-shoot camera, that I really haven't used since I got my iPhone a year ago. I almost always see something that makes me wish I had a camera with me.


Less than a mile in, my heart rate was already in Zone 4, so I kept consciously trying to slow my pace. My legs wanted to go faster, but my cardiovascular system was definitely wanting me to slow down. So the first couple of miles, my pace was going up and down, trying to find a good compromise.

My newly-short hair was driving me insane. I had it in a ponytail, and it kept slapping my left ear with every step. Not my right ear, just my left. In hindsight, I should have just stopped and taken a minute to adjust everything, but I decided to wait until I got back to the car at mile six. I accidentally took a picture while I was tugging at my hair, mid-run.


I reached the end of the park at mile three, then turned around and headed back. I stopped on the bridge to get a quick picture.


When I got back to the car, I ditched the camera--I didn't see a single thing worth taking a picture of, so there was no use taking it out again. I pulled my hair into a knot, and then started on the second half of my run. My hair felt a million times better after that!

I started to feel pretty good around mile 7, and that lasted until about mile 10; probably because of the slower pace. I stopped once more at mile 10.75 to refill my water bottle, and I dumped the entire thing over my head. I was completely sopping wet after that, but it did feel better! Then I just did what I could to make it back to the car. My heart rate was too high, but it's hard for me to slow down when I know the end is getting close ;)

Got back to the car, and dried off with the towel I brought. Overall, it was a tough run, but I'm glad I did it outside instead of on the treadmill. My pace was kind of slow, but I wasn't worried about that. I was actually kind of surprised just how consistent my splits were! The first couple of years that I was running, my splits were all over the place; now, it's not unusual to have several splits within a second or two of each other.


I didn't spend my activity PointsPlus today, because I want to save them for tomorrow. Jerry and I are having a date night, and even though I have no idea what we're going to do, I'd like the option to spend them then. My stomach was actually kind of upset all afternoon after my run today.

Tonight, Sarah is coming over for a little while. I'm looking forward to some adult conversation! I'll have a glass of wine, but I'm stopping with one. Last time she came over for wine, I had four glasses, and felt awful the next day!

11 comments:

  1. Great job Katie! I've got my long run tomorrow. The temps are supposed to be super high for So. Cali. I'm dreading it but know it will be worth it in the end. Enjoy date night!

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  2. That's really great, Katie! I had a similar experience this week, as far as being motivated to run outside versus the 'mill after reading several articles in this month's RW. Luckily, my run was in no way as humid as yours! I'm inspired by your "slow" pace, as I aspire for that to even be my "fast"! LOL! (Currently about 12:00/mile). I DO have a 5K tomorrow morning, that is the anniversary of my first 5K a year ago, and am looking forward to seeing how I've improved. Reading your article tonight as made me more excited to get up and get out there! Keep up the great training AND good to see you're enjoying yourself as well!

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  3. I admire you so much for being able to stick so consistently to your running schedule! I live in a place with a ton of hills, do you have any tips for running on them? I usually prefer flat ground, but am not sure where else to run!

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  4. I keep my hair on the shorter side, and I understand the frustrating length you're talking about - so annoying during runs! I usually do this with mine when I run:

    http://www.wikihow.com/Make-an-Inverse-Ponytail

    It pulls it up another couple of inches, enough to get it away from your ears and shoulders!

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  5. Have you tried a squirt bottle of water, when Phoebe wakes you up too early? That usually works with our cats:-)

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  6. I am a new reader! Think of yourself lucky our cat wakes us up at 330am!

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  7. My cat has started basically the same thing lately. She hears my alarm go off and immediately, she jumps on my bed, gets in my face and meows as if to say "get up!". Of course, I hit snooze, but she will not go away until I'm up, lol. I have no tolerance for heat and absolutely hate the summer now. I'm in NC and it is super hot and humid here, so I know how you feel. I am thankful it's not 130 like it is in Vegas, though! I would just die... for real!!

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  8. My border collie will get really close, lay his nose on the bed and just stare at me until I wake up like a creeper. I'm also sort-of dreading my run tomorrow, since we've been very, very hot(105+)and then we had a rainstorm al day today. I'll have to gout earlier than usual to get done before the sun comes up!

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  9. My cat has been doing the same crap! It drives me crazy. She will do it for a few days and then stop and then do it again. I give her a sort of punishment when she does it, and when I do, she doesn't do it again for a while, and then she'll start to again. Not sure if she's testing me or what. I told my vet this, and she said cats don't do things like that. Yeah ok. My cat totally knows if she does these things it'll wake m up. She jumps onto my vanity table and starts ripping tissues out of the box and shredding them up. She is so weird and will shred any kind of paper left lying around. How I punish her is I say NO firmly and I pick her up and put her in the bathroom and shut the door. She doesn't like being in there alone, and I am letting her know I will not be getting up and feeding her just because she's being a brat. :) I had to leave her in there when we first got her because she peed on things, and eventually she realized if she stopped peeing outside of her box I'd let her go all over the house. I am hoping she will also get that it's not ok to misbehave in the morning and wake me up. She also throws herself against me when she lies next to me, I guess in an attempt to wake me. She'll get right in my face and sniff me too. She's too cute to be mad at when she's being cuddly, but the loud meowing and jumping on things ticks me off.

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  10. Good golly, it was a humid day to run, much less run 12 miles!! Great job and great splits!

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  11. Great run. I love just dumping a whole bottle of water on my head during a run. It's so refereshing! I've thought about getting a cat but your 5am wake up calls are scaring me. I rarely get out of bed before 8am!

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