I have experienced some pretty nasty weather ever since I started running, but none of that compared to the horrid humidity I hurried through last Thursday evening. What made the run even more excruciating was that it was my first "tempo" run. "Tempo" runs are where you pick up your pace for a certain amount of time. My goal was to run at 8:16 pace for ten minutes at some point during my six mile run.
My philosophy in tackling tough tasks is usually to try and get through the hardest part first. This way, the remainder of the exercise is fairly easy. That philosophy usually works out pretty good, but I would not recommend it for "tempo" running. I started the run with a half mile warm up and then picked it up to 8:16 pace to start the "tempo" run. Right off the bat I noticed that I was sweating way more than usual and breathing was very hard to do. Half way into the run the left side of my brain was coming up with all the excuses in the world it could muster to get me to quit. I pushed on and finished the ten minute "tempo" run and immediately slowed to a pathetic jog to try and "rest on the run".
The attempt was a complete, catastrophic calamity and I soon found myself walking to regain my breath. "Stop walking you pansy", screamed the right side of my brain. "Turn right here and your car will only be a mile away" begged the left side of my brain. I soon started doing math in my head to try and take my mind off trying to breath and the heat. This worked for a good while. I finished the run (with a couple more walk breaks and even more math problems) and felt pretty discouraged until I ran into my coach who told me that he cut his run short due to the humidity and had a hell of time finishing as well. So there . . . I was not the only woose running last Thursday...kidding.
The rest of the week was pretty tame as far as my ridiculous running routing goes. On Friday I decided to run a new course from the YMCA over to the Windsor entrance of Lake Forest and back. It was a great area to run in except for the lack of sidewalks over half of it. On Saturday I ran on a treadmill to give my legs some recovery and get ready for Sunday's long run.
Sunday's run was the best breezy bay run I have had since I started running. I ran fourteen miles again, but this time we ran over on Dauphin Island Parkway over the Dog River Bridge...yes ran over the Dog River Bridge. If Thursday's run was the most humid of the season, then Sunday's was the coolest. We started at 6:00 am and I actually caught my teeth chattering on a few occasions. The run was great and I hope it is the same this weekend.
Monday I had another torturous, timed track workout. This week I had to complete 5x1000 meters with each 1000 meters completed in 5:00 minutes and a 200 meter recovery. I then had to do 2x1000 meters in 4:45 with a 3:00 minute recovery. We finished the workout with 2x200 meters in 45 seconds.
Tuesday's run was completed with my beautiful, boootylicious babe over in Daphne. She ran 3.5 and I did 6. I am off today and am scheduled for another 16 miles on Sunday. I also received September's schedule and will be running 20 miles by the end of that month...I cannot wait!!!!
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