Saturday, July 30, 2011

Week 6/17 HM Training - Run #4 8K + 8 striders


Today I crossed over into the 200 km zone for total km run during the month of July. I have an LSD scheduled for tomorrow so once I complete it, I can officially post my highest mileage month ever. :) This is why I am posting a photo that is supposed to represent the looong road ... a lot of miles run for me! :)

Today's run was good. However, I left later than intended. First, I didn't set the alarm. I slept until I naturally woke up because I'm exhausted and needed to sleep as much as I could. However, I can't do this tomorrow because the forecasted heat and humidity + my longest LSD scheduled to date = the need to wake up early early early. Second, Ben had a bad night of sleep. I needed to run to the drug store for him first thing, and this was my focus until much later in the day. And finally, William Wallace was sick again in the night ... on our living room carpet. :( While I was cleaning this up, our cat, Smudge, threw up twice in the kitchen (?!!?!). What are the odds of me waking up to a sick dog, cat and partner all at the same time? Maternal care comes before running - LOL!

So I have to say, I'm impressed that I actually made it outside for a run because I was very, very tempted to skip it. :) William Wallace came with me. It was hot, but not terribly hot. There was little humidity in the air (a wonderful reprieve) so I knew I could handle an 8K in this. I headed toward campus for a change, and it was a good decision. The path was less busy, it was mainly in shade, and the breeze off the river, although warm, was still somewhat refreshing in the heat. All this made it much easier for me to run. I saw multiple golden splits again so that provided me with an ego-boost. I really needed that. :)

When my sister and BIL were here the last time, they brought a flat of Gatorade with them. In this heat and humidity, they choose to have a cold Gatorade as soon as they walk in the door after an LSD. Every once in a while, I purchase a Vitamin Water (lemonade flavour) for the same reason (I like the taste). However, I am very leery about jumping onto the sports drinks bandwagon - I consider a lot of this to be hyped up marketing for a highly processed product with a degree of truthiness (just my opinion - please feel welcome to disagree with me and I am more than willing to change my mind, but this is how I feel about a lot of these products at the present time). And in the next paragraph, I am about to prove how susceptible I am to marketing and hype anyway ... :)

I am sharing this today because, when I arrived home, I drank a Zico coconut water. I didn't do much research on any particular brand of coconut water before buying it; I just happened to find this flat of 12 with 3 bonus bottles while shopping at Costco yesterday and decided to try it. Coconut water is receiving a lot of press lately for being a natural alternative to sports drinks. It's been in the back of my mind to check it out because I believe in the benefits of restoring hydration/electrolytes to your body after a long run, particularly after a run on a warm/hot day, but was turned off by the sports drinks marketed to people who are drinking them like soda. I liked what I was reading about coconut water - no added sugar, a label list I could read and understand (remember the Food Rules!), and comparable to a banana. The taste was okay - it's different. I have 14 more bottles to drink after my runs in the next few weeks so we'll give it an honest try and determine if it works for me or not. :)

GYM UPDATE
I went to Kundalini Yoga last night. It was a smaller class, which I enjoy more because it is usually the core group who attend faithfully. I spoke to Judy about DVDs and/or CDs for at home. I have some leads and will be pursuing this as I like the idea of adding to more sessions per week, even if it means doing it solo at home. I am training for a half marathon on my own so I hope I can handle yoga solo as well. :)

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