Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Week 4/17 HM Training - 10K (Not 12K)

This post is several days late. My mother is staying with us for a week+ after her nephew's wedding last weekend, and we have been busy busy busy together, in partnership with an out-of-province aunt/sister (also here for the wedding). I have been chauffeuring them everywhere to visit other relatives, etc. This was unexpected for me so my apologies for "dropping off the map" suddenly without warning. :( I am just getting caught up on my blog now ...

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Wow! What a challenging run! :( Thrill Hill Tuesday did not happen today. :(

I headed out for my run late and this contributed in a small part to my challenging run because it was already so hot and humid at the beginning of it. I left the dogs at home because of the humidity - a wise decision. It was really tough out there folks! :(

I gave it the 'ol college try and now that I have luxury of hindsight a few days later, I view it more as a 'success' than I did that day. I was supposed to run 12K with my nemesis hill, something I have been doing with some degree of success over the last few weeks. However, on this day, given the heat and humidity, it was tough for running so I told myself to repeat what I had done with my LSD on Saturday ... just run on cruise control. Take it easy. It's all about the mileage accumulation, not the pace. And I actually did okay with this. I was lucky that where I was running, there was lots of shade and when there was a breeze off the river, it was actually cooler than the humid air. It was going pretty good ...

And then the wheels came off ... :(

In my 9th km, I could feel all the energy leave my body and my pace really start to slow down. I had already coached myself by this point to accept the fact that I would likely not have the ability to run up nemesis hill when I could feel myself hitting a wall. I tried to resist it because I know that once I start walking, that's it - I can only run in spurts after that. But I had to. I just couldn't do it.

A true sign that it was too hot and humid for me to run? For the first time in my running experience, when I reached for my water bottle to drink, the water was too warm. I needed it to cool me down, but was rejecting it because it had warmed up so much during my run. For the first time in a very long time, I needed to stop at one of the restroom/water fountain areas along my running path to refill my bottles with cooler water.

It was a long walk home. :( It *sucks* to stop a run so far from run and then have to spend so much time walking back ... but hey, at least it was still exercise!

I was disappointed, but the good news is that I didn't beat myself up about it. It is what is. I have had some pretty good running weeks, and now that we (in Ontario) are in the throes of a very hot, humid and dry summer, the quality of our runs are just not comparable to spring and fall runs. Like everyone else, I just have to keep doing the best that I can. :)

And I just want to add ... I am extremely lucky that the summer I was learning to run again was 2009 - the wettest, coolest summer we have had on record in Ontario for many years. I have continued running during the summer since then because my desire to become an endurance runner is strong. However, I am always thinking about beginner runners, and how tough it is for them under these conditions. They really, really deserve a lot of credit!

GYM UPDATE
Yesterday (Monday), I went to Body Sculpt. As usual, the class was filled to capacity. I had a great workout and I am excited to point out how much better I did, and how I did NOT feel the after effects today. A very good feeling!

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