I crossed the street...

For some reason, I used to think that the ABBA song 'I Had a Dream' contained the lyric, 'I crossed the street' in it.  Presumably, the line should be, 'I crossed the stream/I had a dream' since that makes much more sense.  But I still think of my version when I hear this song.  And today, I did just that.  I crossed the street.  Prior to today's run, which was 18 miles, I could find ways of circling around the northern part of the golf course neighborhood, thereby avoiding having to cross a relatively major street.  Today, since I had to add another mile from the last long run, I decided the time had come.  I was rewarded with some pretty good Florida scenery:

You can actually see parts of the Hillsborough River on this side of the street because not everything is built up.  This picture was taken near a public boat launch.

More of the Hillsborough River

If you're curious to know what this part of Florida would look like had northerners not descended and built golf courses, here is an idea:

Vacant lot right next to the river.

The street next to the river in this neighborhood is also called Riverhills Drive, only it's the southern part and the other half -- which had some of the houses featured previously on the blog -- is the northern part.  They have some pretty ritzy homes on the southern part too:

I just wonder about their cooling bills.

You can actually look out on the river from that giant porch.

Overall, though, today's run was not nearly as enjoyable as the last long run.  In part, this was probably because I shouldn't have been doing a long run today after only 5 days' rest from the previous long run and a 9-mile run on Tuesday.  Physically, though, I didn't feel too awful, at least not any more awful than I would expect from a long run.  And good news, body: you only have one more this week, and it's only 5 miles!  The real problem is that the spectacular cold front is going away.  The temperature at the start of the run was a very palatable 58F, but unfortunately the humidity was around 80%.  By the time I finished the run (many, many hours later), the temperature was already 75F; the RealFeel on Accuweather calculates it at 82F.  Let me tell you: it felt closer to 82F than 75F.

I could actually feel when things were starting to go wrong physically because of the weather.  For instance, before I had my last dose of sport beans, I could really feel my mind starting to wander.  I opted to take three packs and had one each 4.5 miles, which I think was fine overall, but the last one was definitely a necessity.  How could I tell?  I would start coming up with alternatives to my route or thinking about changing what I was doing.  Bad idea.  After I had the sport beans, I just continued on and all went well.  Another issue: if I was in the sun for too long, the same kinds of things started to happen.  Luckily, there was a shady version of the route near the end, but at one point, I think that I was in the sun for a bit too long.  My brain definitely got off track there.

I almost fell again today.  It's time to admit that these aren't flukes, but probably fatigue errors.  It happens.  Not much that can be done about them except to hope that I don't actually fall!

Switched-up schedule

I am starting to see a pattern here.  On Tuesdays, I start running and in response, my brain says, 'OH COME ON!  We just ran XX miles!  Isn't that enough?  IS NOTHING EVER ENOUGH FOR YOU?'  Then after about 2 miles or so, it settles, and we go on our merry way.  I'm off to Pittsburgh for the weekend, so I wanted to get my long run out of the way in advance -- see, I learned from my California adventure!  Thursday, then, will be this week's long run.  Instead of 5 miles today, I did 9, so that I can save the shortest distance for when I am in Pittsburgh.  However, today 9 felt looooooooooooooong.

Partially, this was because I ran at Flatwoods, one of the conservation areas around Tampa.  It is actually contained within a super-giant nature preserve and generic suburbia forms its borders:

Image courtesy of generic suburb website that borders park, hence the 'YOU ARE HERE' marker

As you can clearly see from the map, there is a 'paved trail for biking and rollerblading.'  You can also use it for running, but it's better suited for the other sports.  First, it is a 7-mile loop.  If you are coming at it from the west (Bruce B. Downs), there is also a 2-mile trait just to get to the loop.  So you are looking at some relatively hefty mileage right off the bat.  Also, while it is scenic (provided you find pine trees scenic), there are a lot of parts which do not provide very much shade.  Not too bad if you are on a bike, but potentially awful if you are running.  I'm glad I waited for a cold front or else it would have been quite unbearable.  There was a stretch of probably a mile with almost no shade at all.  However, in the shady parts with the wind was quite pleasant.

I have to say, though, that it does get a bit boring after a while, at least in my opinion:

Actually the road as you are leaving, but looks exactly the same as the trail.

Now imagine looking at that for seven miles.

I realize that some people might enjoy this a lot more than I did this morning and I'm pretty sure that part of my boredom with Flatwoods was just fatigue from Sunday.  It is quiet and there were no sidewalks for me to trip on, so that was good.  Also, it is well marked for mileage and, provided that it is cool, not unbearable.  There are water stops at various points as well.  Oh, and as the name suggests, it is flat as can be.  I've been told that I will get my butt kicked by hills in Pittsburgh, so I shall revel in Florida flat until then.

I did see a few interesting things along the way, though.  One was particularly shocking:

WHOA!

Do you see how those leaves are a different hue than green?  That is Florida foliage, people.  Florida foliage.  I don't think that I have ever noticed that before!

16 miles? During a cold front? Not a problem!

Today's long run was the 16-miler.  The cold front continued, which was probably the most fortuitous weather ever.  I was concerned about today's long run because it coincided with the switch to Daylight Savings.  Just because the clock goes back by an hour does not mean that Mr. Florida Sun cooperates.  I wanted to make sure that I got started early enough so that 10am did not feel like 11am.  However, with the cold front, this concern was irrelevant.  I went out a bit later than I had hoped (was planning to go out around 6:30am, and went instead closer to 7am), but it was fine.

Apparently, I have almost lost any skills I once had for how to dress in cooler weather.  The basic rule that I like to follow is to dress for the finish, not the beginning, because of course you do warm up while you run.  But Florida does not really require much thinking in the appropriate dress department.  Generally, I just go in shorts and a performance singlet.  So when the temperature drops, it now confuses me.  I didn't want to overdress, but I also didn't want to freeze at the beginning.  I went with shorts, long-sleeve performance shirt, and an actual ballcap.  Actual ballcaps are too hot normally, so I figured that it would pay off today.  This combo worked pretty well and I didn't feel uncomfortable at any point -- okay, maybe a little cold to start.

The temperature was in the 40s to start, then got into the 60s by the end.  In other words: perfect.  And the dew point was in the 30s.  As much as Florida drives me nuts, the weather during cold fronts is pretty much ideal (how unfortunate that cold fronts are maybe 5% of the year).  You get the cold, Arctic wind from up north, but you don't usually feel cold because the sun is still warm.  It's pretty easy to cope with these conditions.  If you feel cold from the wind, you get the sun to warm you up.  And if you feel too warm, you go in the shade or wait for a gust of wind.

As tends to happen in good weather conditions, I am reminded that I actually do not hate running.  I know, I've been over this before, but I really do sometimes forget.  The weather here is generally very difficult to negotiate for me, no matter what time of day.  So when I actually get to run in reasonable conditions, it is a real treat.  And I realized something else.  I may not be very good at running long distances, but I don't mind running long distances.  Especially in good weather.  I feel like I've reached a good point mentally where long runs don't actually feel so long and I stay strong through the last part.  For instance, I got to 4.5 miles from the end today and felt like the rest was going to be just fine to finish.  This is encouraging and a great feeling.  The last part wasn't even so bad, overall.  Now I just have to remember how those last miles feel when I run the real marathon.

Also, here is hoping for similar weather conditions!

I did have one small freakout today when I checked my time around 6 miles.  For some unknown reason, I convinced myself that 8 miles (the halfway point) was around a quarter of the marathon.  I started freaking out because I thought that I was running significantly slower than I had anticipated.  It took me until somewhere around 12 miles to realize that actually, 8 miles is closer to two-thirds of the way through a marathon.  This makes a pretty big difference, as the following fictional comparison demonstrates (fictional because I do not run this fast):

• 1 hour/8 miles in my erroneous first version would result in a 4-hour marathon;
• 1 hour/8 miles would be closer to a 3-hour marathon.

See how that happened?  It added a whole hour.  Even for this imaginary fast person.

I have one last comment about today's run.  When I train, I don't listen to music, but I do sometimes get music in my head.  For a while, it was various chamber music of the nineteenth century (I know, I'm a geek); for instance, Schumann's string quartet in A major (op. 41/3) would often be my imagined accompaniment.  You don't need to tell me that this is weird, I know already.  There is something about the strings all working together in chamber music that I feel works while running.  Today, though, I suddenly had Bob Seger's 'Hollywood Nights' burst out of nowhere around mile 5.  Random, even though it was on the radio yesterday.

The best moment ever was when I was 2 miles from the end of a long run while training for a half-marathon and Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing' started up as if on cue in my head.  Seemed appropriate.

Lots of weirdness, really

So first, when I asked for a cold front last week, I didn't think that my wish would be granted quite so successfully.  We are in the middle of a real, honest-to-goodness cold front.  In Florida, that means that the high temperature today was 66F.  Yes, that's cold around these parts.  It is supposed to get down to the 30s tonight, which is super cold for here.  Also, the humidity is not higher than 50%.  Rather than call it cold, I prefer to think of it in the following terms, 'WHOO!!!!'

If we're really lucky, some alligators might come out and sun to combat the 'cold.'

It was so temperate, in fact, that I ran in the afternoon today.  Like around 2:30pm.  Which is practically unheard of.  Because the sun is still Mr. Florida Sun.  Cold weather in no way alters that fact.  It just makes it slightly more bearable.  However, when I was in sunny sections with no wind, you could still feel it beating down.  I feel silly writing this because despite this fact, running in the sun in mid-60s weather is one hell of a lot more enjoyable than, say, running in 90% humidity in 70+ degree weather.

There was a slight mishap today.  I was running on campus at USF (I'm actually still at work) and discovered something important: not all of the sidewalks are even.  Some jut upward.  My shoe caught on one of these exact spots and I managed to fall pretty well.  No major damage, just some nasty-looking scrapes.  My favorite part of today's run was after this slight mishap when some random guy on a bike yelled, 'WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR KNEES?'  and I yelled back,' I FELL.'  I mean, what else do you think would have happened to my knees?

Incidentally, I learned something about weather and split times today.  It was a 5-mile run and my split time was a full minute faster than recent similar distances.  Plus this is adding in stop times at lights, so it was probably even better with no more perceivable effort.  So for the umpteeth time, I would like to remind Irrational Me that split times are not relevant in Florida conditions!

Another 8 miles down

Today's long run was another 8 miles as a slight taper from last week.  Next week is 10, then I leap to 12 after that.  I was a bit concerned that 8 miles was going to be my cursed distance, particularly after the last 8 miles and because the weather today was back in the hot/humid range.  I remember that during the summer of 2007, 6 miles was my cursed distance.  Every time I tried to run 6 miles, something went wrong, like it got too hot or something (honestly, I can't remember what the other ones were now, but for some reason my 6-mile runs just never quite went well).  But today wasn't so bad.  The start of the run was overcast at least this time and once the sun was up, things were okay as long as I stayed in the shade.  Fortunately, much of where I run is shady, so it wasn't such a major issue.  Things were less fun in the sunny parts -- particularly at the point where I turned around to go back today, which is a double whammy since it is sunny and up a Florida hill.  However, it was still not awful.

I am pretty knocked out today, though, more than I usually am on Sunday.  I'm not sure if that is from running too hard or from the weather change, but I'm glad that tomorrow is a day off.  A well-earned day off no less.  Probably the lesson here is to not run so fast in heat, but hey, at least I am still trying!

And hot. It's also still hot.

If you're curious, there was no blog entry yesterday because I didn't run.  My training schedule has a day off every few weeks and yesterday was one of them.  I didn't set the alarm and got to sleep in (okay, not really, it was to 9:30am, but that is still better than nothing!).  Twice in one week with no alarms.  That won't be happening again for a while.

Yesterday was a major day in college football around these parts because the University of South Florida (here in Tampa) played the University of Florida for the first time.  Now unless you live under a rock or are completely oblivious to college football, you likely are aware that UF is a pretty good team -- there is a lot more that could be said on this point, especially since a bunch of their major players graduated, but let's leave it at that.  USF was ranked #2 back in 2007 and hasn't yet cracked the rankings this year.  I only mention this because I watched this historic game yesterday (UF trounced USF) and could not help but take notice of a comment that recurred several times from the announcers: it was hot.  It was hotter than any of them remembered it being in the Swamp during game day (UF plays in a stadium called The Swamp).  They even consulted some of the people who had been covering Swamp football for 30 years and they thought that it was abnormally hot.  And let me tell you, that hot carried on this morning.

My run was much, much slower than I would want it to be, but I can definitely see why.  I looked at the graph showing my time and there was a very clear deceleration that occurred during the second half of my run.  Why?  Because today there was no good answer.  It was humid to start, hot as I went, and no cloud cover whatsoever to shield Mr. Florida 'Freaking Hot' Sun.  The heat index at the end was 92F according to the National Weather Service.  Accuweather put that at 106F.  Let's average those two: 99F.  Still horrid.

Oh, and in the 'you can't win' department, the humidity was 94% when I started.  COME ON!  At no time did the magic number of humidity plus temperature dip below 160.  Not once.  Dew point, you may ask?  Between 75-77F.  Looking back on these numbers, I can't believe I got through the run.

But hey, I persevered.  For 8 whole miles.  Liked the miles in the shade far more than the ones in the sun.  And let me tell you, by the end of the run, quite a few of those were in the sun.

I'm awfully glad that I changed a few hydrating/fueling strategies for today's run or else I might not have made all 8 miles.  First, I managed to do a route that took me past a drinking fountain in one of the parks around the 4-mile mark.  Good plan because I was almost out of water by that point.  Also, unlike most runs, I brought a little mini-Clif Bar today.  You are supposed to refuel somehow for every hour that you are out (or something like that).  I'm pretty sure that the Clif Bar helped.  Plus it's small enough that it wasn't hard to bring with me stashed away in one of the pockets on my water holder.  I need to experiment more with refueling since the actual marathon will require a strategy.  Here's hoping that sport jellybeans will work.

If you're wondering, I don't drink Gatorade because it upsets my stomach.  Gatorade, as you probably know, originated at UF because people were keeling over from the heat and ick in The Swamp.  However, there are alternatives to Gatorade that I have used in the past and let me tell you, around 5 miles I was making plans to go and find some of those ASAP.

The post-run this week, though, is a happy time.  First, I went and got a chocolate milk.  This is the best recharging liquid known to man.  Seriously.  No one is quite sure why.  But who am I to complain if I get to have a chocolate milk?  Second, unless you live under a TV-free rock, you are likely aware that this is the first Sunday of NFL football.  NFL football is one of my absolute favorite things in the whole wide world, hands down.  Plus I get to watch with friends.  Plus we are going to a place that has whole-wheat pizza.  And you bet that I have earned that puppy today!

I know, I know, even I have gone on about how when you run, you still need to watch your diet.  And in general, I am good about watching the diet.  However, my body is already kicking up into high hunger gear, even on days when I am not running, so I need to be sure to fuel properly.  Last night's dinner, for instance, was tofu with bean/spinach salad and wild rice.  Can't feel too bad about that.  Now it is time for some pizza and some FOOTBALL!

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have marathon training

For a wide variety of reasons, I couldn't get out this morning.  Chief amongst those reasons was that the weather was unpredictable.  There is a disturbance in the Gulf (why yes, I did see some of the Star Wars marathon on Spike this weekend), creating a tropical storm over on the Texas side -- Tropical Storm Hermine to be exact.  Now, while we are far from Texas, there is still enough of an overall disturbance to make weather here dicey.  It was rainy this morning, then overcast after that.  Plus I had a few things that needed taking care of first thing.  End result: no run this morning.

I was hoping to wait until ~7pm, then go, but every time I checked the weather, this seemed like a bad idea.  Both Accuweather and Weather.com indicated that the longer I waited, the worse the chances of a possibly violent storm.  Then the skies appeared to be getting overcast around 5pm.  I decided that rather than gambling by waiting, I would head out and bear the brunt of the hot.  This was probably the right move since when I got home, there was a warning for western Hillsborough county (I'm in the eastern part) that there were violent storms with a funnel cloud spotted.  Pass.  Although I did locate a convenient shelter from storms along my route today, yay. 

And hot it was.  The sun envelops you like it just isn't going to let go.  Like Dementors in Harry Potter, only with warmth instead of cold and no Lupin to hand you chocolate.  Things were almost manageable in the shade, but Mr. Florida Sun was strong.  Not to mention that because the sun was still relatively high in the sky, there was less shade overall.  Accuweather seems to think that the heat index was around 96F and while I sometimes think that they exaggerate, it was not exactly ideal at the start of the run.  However, I persevered and that is what matters.

Sometimes I wonder if I would be a faster runner if I had stayed up north and continued to run.  I probably would be.  But I think I'm a tougher runner from being down here.

So much of this was the bad.  But there were a few good moments too.  As I was driving over to the golf course neighborhood, I heard the piano exit from 'Layla,' which is one of my favorite things right now.  I must be on some weird Scorsese kick because as I write this, I am listening to the final number from the St. Matthew Passion, which features prominently in Scorsese's Casino.  Yeah, it was sunny today, hence the random.

Anyway, I also had an insight as I ran.  I was going along a sunny part and thinking about how I just had to grit through this -- YES, I did just turn 'grit' into a verb with an unusual usage!  Then I started thinking about how in yoga you are supposed to be in the moment and not worry about the future.  However, that is basically the opposite of what I generally do when running.  I am constantly thinking about the future.  Am I going too fast?  Could I go faster?  How much further do I have to go?  Will my current route cover that or will I have to add on (or find a shortcut)?  Where is the next stretch of shade?  Can I beat the garbage truck home?  You get the idea.  For me, running is all about not being in the moment, it is about being in the next moment.  No idea if this is a good strategy, just something that went through my head around mile 3 while running in the Florida sun. 

When I got back, I learned something interesting: according to my phone, I have run 97 miles so far training for my marathon.  But actually, I have run more.  The 5k Salem run isn't included in there, so that puts me at 100 miles, plus there are the two hour-long runs that I did the past couple of weeks.  I am over 100 miles!  This seems cool for some reason.

More Riverhills Drive

Sunday is run day!  Yes, that's right, it was the long run this morning, which was 7 miles.  Slightly longer than last week so I added to my route.  I did the hill street then back (~2 miles total), down Riverhills (~4 miles total), and added on a bit at the end which took me past the golf club (~1 mile).  As I was heading to the golf club, I was nearly hit by two retirees in a golf cart who were driving on the sidewalk.  Welcome to Florida.  I don't think any single moment has summed it up more succinctly.

Today was not nearly as humid as last week, but still not the awesome conditions of Tuesday.  Ah well.  You need some runs that will stick out as amazing, right?  If all of them were like that, they would just get boring (not really, but allow me to live in my fantasy world).

After the run, I went around and got a few more pictures.  Still no 18th-hole-epiphanies like Billy Graham.  Here are some of the favorite houses from today, with the added bonus that you can see the power of Mr. Florida Sun:

That porch up top kills me.  No idea what purpose it could serve, except it might be fun as a place to hang out during parties.

Good that it does not snow here with that roof.  Notice power of Mr. Florida Sun.

This house really caught my attention today.  I like the trees in the front too.

This house has a whole lot of stuff going on.  There is also a gazebo off to the left that I couldn't fit in the frame.  Rock the casbah!

And my favorite yard of the morning:

Flamingos on parade!

I think I'm getting the Mr. Florida Sun thing from when I did sailing as a kid and they used to always refer to the wind as 'Mr. Wind.'  As in, 'when Mr. Wind comes at you from this angle, it is to your maximum advantage to have your sails at this angle.'