Challenge Week #2

Back in August -- back when 5 miles was my long run for the week but it was really freaking hot -- I instituted a policy that during challenging weeks, I would acknowledge them as such and take the challenges in stride.  Sure, things might not go as planned.  But it was important to have faith that things would turn out okay.  With that concept in mind, I am hereby declaring this week Challenge Week #2 since three out of this week's four runs have not been fun.  Unlike Challenge Week #1, which was primarily about scheduling runs around meetings, this time around, the challenges are being posed in different ways:

1. The weather.  Tuesday and Thursday were too hot and humid and ick.  Luckily, here we are on Saturday and the weather has cooled to a reasonable degree.  It still got up to 85F today.  But the humidity was much lower (~50%) and the dew point manageable (around 60F) when I went for my run around 6pm.  Side note: As I ran, I was thinking to myself that probably if I ever move from Florida and have to go running in such conditions, I will probably post something as my Facebook status that says, 'How did I ever do this on a regular basis?!??!!!!?!?'
2. My stomach.  Today my stomach was not happy running.  Not one bit.  For about the first mile or so, my stomach hurt on the right side.  Then there was around half a mile that was fine, after which the pain moved to my left side.  Another break, then there was a kind of dull pain that was lower and across my stomach.  By this point, I was around three-quarters of the way through.  Today's run was also 5 miles with three aerobic intervals, so that was just awesome all around.  It did help me keep them at a reasonable pace, though.

I came super close to quitting today, or only running half and adding the remaining miles tomorrow, or adding the sprints tomorrow, or something.  Unfortunately, I couldn't go this morning because I was volunteering for something and had to be there early.  I think that the real problem with my stomach was that I ate too soon before running, but generally this is not a huge problem (and I did leave an hour and a half in between).  Oh well.  It's done now.

One thing that pushed me through was remembering what was probably my absolute worst race to date.  I had food poisoning and still ran (it was a 5k).  Adding insult to injury was the fact that I lived in Worcester, MA -- city of seven hills -- and had to walk over a very big hill (some might say killah) to get to the run.  Which was dumb.  Because you don't want to have to walk over a very big hill to get to a run.  Naturally, I also had to walk back afterward, at which point it started raining.  Once I got home, I went straight to bed, having given up on that day completely.  But what I do remember is somehow finding my way through that run and the fact that I didn't die trying.  One of my exercise rules is that while you might think you are going to die at times, you probably won't.  It's nice to know that however miserable that day (and it was miserable), I can still take something from the experience.

I guess it's good for mental toughness?

It remains hot.  Today it got up to 90F.  That is, in fact, summer weather.  And the humidity this morning was in the ick range of 90%.  I looked at the prediction last night and decided that I would risk running later.  This was a gamble because there were clouds gathering and some of them looked pretty scary -- not quite on par with the photos from a few weeks ago, but still a bit ominous.  As I got started, I heard some distant thunder, but that was the only trace of an actual storm during the run, apart from a few sudden wind gusts.  I decided to run anyway and knock off one of the two 5-milers that need to be done.  One of them has sprints in it.  I saved that one for the weekend.  Here's hoping that the 'cold front' is passing through tonight and getting rid of some of this weather.

I didn't take my phone for a few reasons:

• I feared inclement weather
• There is a really convenient 5M run that doesn't require the phone (you run down some streets, around, up a street, then back.  Trust me, it's easy in practice)
• I didn't want to get going too fast.  Rational Me knows that when it is hot, your body needs to slow down.  Rational Me can look at mile split times when she gets back and understand that she was slow because of weather conditions (Rational Me is also a big fan of AccuWeather).  However, Rational Me is not the one that typically goes running....well, that's obvious, because Rational Me probably thinks that this whole marathon idea is nuts.  Irrational Me, on the other hand, gets frustrated because the mile splits are too slow, weather be damned.  Tonight, I didn't feel like dealing with Irrational Me.  So the timing devices (phone and watch) stayed at home.

I also left my visor at home, but that was more because I figured that I wouldn't need it with the sun setting.

Again, it was not an enjoyable 5M, nowhere near as easy as the ones I was running in previous weeks.  But I did it and that's what matters.  As I was running, I thought to myself that I should probably be grateful that the weather hasn't been like this for all of October and that it was actually reasonable by Florida standards.  I'm sure that, had the weather been summer-hot all month, I would still have run.  But it would have been nasty.  So I'm glad that there was some respite.

Plus this all goes in to the 'mental toughness' category.  It would have been really, really easy to skip tonight's run.  It would have been really, really easy to cut tonight's run short because of a possible storm.  But I didn't.  Truth be told, it wasn't physically so bad -- 5 miles is still a lot less than most recent running days.  However, I am still sweaty and my head hurts, so it could have been much better.

Come on COLD FRONT!

Sometimes I really hate you, Florida

It's official: it got hot again.  Record-breaking heat, in fact.  Today it got up to 91F in Tampa.  That would be summer weather, except that it is very slightly less humid.  But not really.

This is just unfair.  It's a taper week for me, meaning that my mileage is spread out over 4 days of shorter runs.  I was really looking forward to this because shorter runs generally feel much faster than normal.  In fact, today's run was only 4 miles.  Can you imagine?  I ran three times that plus two more miles on Sunday.

Instead, 4 miles turned out to be very painful indeed because it got hot again.  BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

(I mean, I guess it could be worse since up north it is snowing and everything.  But I don't care because I feel like whining about my weather situation.)

Anyway, unable to bear the thought of running in summer morning conditions, I decided to take a gamble on the weather and go for the nighttime instead.  Of course, this also added the challenge of running before it got dark since the sun now goes down at 5pm or something.  Okay, not really.  The sun never goes down at 5pm here.  I'm thinking back to Boston.  But it does go down much earlier and by the time I was wrapping up the run at 7:30pm-ish, it was definitely dark.

Meh, no alligators crawled out of the darkened sewer and got me, so whatever.

(If you're curious, yes, I was traumatized by Stephen King's It at an impressionable age).

It was still not quite at the 160 threshold of ick.  But again, it was far too close to the 150 threshold of ick, perhaps even surpassing it on the way to 160.  Come on!  It's late October!  This should be over by now.

Oh, the dew point?  Lower 70s.  To cite my favorite Wikipedia page on the topic yet again, 'Very humid, quite uncomfortable.'  And this was at 6pm today. 

It could have been worse, though.  This morning the dew point was 72F, the humidity 90%, and the temperature 75F, which means that yes, we did surpass the threshold of ick.  So at least I made the right decision by waiting.  I guess.  But I'm still too sweaty and tired. 

Blech.  Just blech.

The long runs get long

Today was 14 miles.  I ran 14 miles. 14 miles is the longest distance I have ever run in one go, beating out my previous record of 13.1 miles by 0.9.  Exciting!  This is a training plan with no room for a feel-good, pat yourself on the back, you made it half way 13 mile run, apparently.  Instead, you crank right through the halfway point and on to 14.  Half and then a little bit.

(It seems crazy that this was just short of half, it really felt very long).

It got hot and muggy again today.  Not quite at summer levels, but also not quite what I would ideally want while running.  The combined temperature + humidity was closer to 150 than 160, but 150 is still rather high.  Certainly by the end, the sun felt like it was beating down perhaps a little too much.  Also, I was insanely thirsty as I was nearing the final part.  Water was my friend today.  I took a water bottle of the healthy Gatorade that I usually drink, then refilled the bottle with water around mile 8 (this was, of course, my trusty fanny pack running belt).  This was not quite enough, but I still made it through.

Here's the weird thing: my mile splits were faster than last week's 12-mile run in better conditions.  Not better by much, but still better.  No idea how that happened.

Today I also developed a new strategy with regard to counting down miles.  Usually, I count down every 10%, but today I decided that waiting for 1.4 miles felt too long.  Instead, I focused on 5%, so only 0.7.  I liked this approach and will keep it up for the marathon, I think.  If I run with my phone.  Which is not a given at this point seeing as how I don't think the battery will last.  I did develop a save-battery strategy today, which is to power it down during boring stretches when I don't actually need to know how much distance is left.  I think that this might work well.  12 miles was pushing the upper limit of the battery, apparently.

Another new trick today was taking running jelly beans (technically, they are called sports beans).  I had the chance to stop by my local running store yesterday and picked some packages up.  Two came with me on the run today.  They are awesome.  Not only do you get fuel while running, they also provide a jolt of caffeine.  And they do taste like jelly beans.  Best invention ever (at least it is the best invention for long-distance running that I know about!).

Halloween is coming

Today I braved the icky conditions and decided to run in the morning anyway.  The Office and 30 Rock are on later, after all.  As I was running, I noticed that my time was very slow.  Like, horrible long run of a few weeks ago slow.  I got frustrated with myself, wondering why my time was so bad and wanting to be a better runner and all kinds of other things that I had plenty of time to contemplate since it was a 7-mile run.  Then when I checked the weather, I realized that, in fact, it had been over the ick threshold for the whole time.  Lesson learned: slow running -- particularly when you have been training consistently -- is probably the result of disgusting weather.  We're talking temperature in the 70s with humidity of 90% icky.  At least some of it was overcast.

The run took place in parts of Stephanie and David's neighborhood (still did not see Stephanie), then I came back over to my part and finished there.  It would seem that several of Stephanie and David's neighbors have put up Halloween decorations already.  Also, it would seem that some of them are pretty into Halloween decorations.  Here are some of the highlights that I saw today:

These two photos are of different parts from the same house.

When I ran by this morning, the ghost was deflated.

Apparently, you do not want to cross into this yard.  They have ghosts guarding it.

One of the houses was particularly ready for Halloween.  All of the remaining photos were from the same place:

This is at the start of the street.  Makes me wonder if more people usually dress up their houses.

Fact: most of the houses that had Halloween decorations up already also had fancy mailboxes.

I feel like 'spooky' and 'palm tree' just don't blend, somehow.

This is the spooky graveyard.

These inflatable things are popular.  I feel like this one is more Thanksgiving-themed, though.

I wonder how the bears feel about being usurped during Halloween.

Reflection on Sunday's run. Yes, I'm still doing that.

When I looked at the weather conditions this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the dew point was 69F at the start of my run.  Can you imagine?  According to Wikipedia, that is only "somewhat uncomfortable for most people at the upper edge" (the range being 65-69F).  Only somewhat uncomfortable!  How awesome is that?

I got thinking about Sunday's run again.  Truth be told, I've been thinking quite a lot about Sunday's horror run.  For instance, on Monday night, I expressed displeasure to two friends that I had to run again after the torture that was Sunday's run.  But I'm trying to put a more positive spin on it.  Sunday's run was probably as bad as it gets.  The heat index is not usually so disgusting that early in the morning, even in Florida.  As a comparison, Accuweather had the heat index at 106F on Sunday around 10am.  This morning it was 92F at 10am.  Still not ideal conditions, but a significant improvement.

If Sunday was as bad as it will probably get, then  I'm okay because I still did it.  I still finished my 8 miles.  I was slow but this apparently doesn't matter.  It wasn't enjoyable, it wasn't fun, and it certainly was not something that I want to repeat any time soon.  But I didn't quit.  I didn't give up.  I didn't walk.  I didn't stop running.  And that is the lesson to be learned here.  Chalk it up to more mental toughness development.

That's better!

For some unknown reason, this morning's run was significantly better than Sunday's.  Perhaps it was because it was only half the distance (4 miles with some running up 'hills').  Perhaps it was because there was a 5 mph breeze from the ENE to alleviate the icky.  But mostly I think that it was because the RealFeel temperature was in the low 90s instead of the upper 90s/low 100s.  I was concerned yesterday because initial forecasts were saying that the high today would be 96F, which is freaking hot for Florida.  However, it appears that this has been revised to a much more tolerable 93F.  And I am not exactly chomping at the bit to go in Sunday conditions again any time soon.  Or ever, if possible.

It was still sweaty, though.  I could not believe just how much so when I looked in the mirror upon my return.  Despite this, I did have a little more spring in my step and even felt pretty good at the end.  My time was also around 2 minutes faster per mile than Sunday.  This weather, I swear.  It's insane!

Today is an exciting day as well because I am getting a massage.  Hurray!  I go to a place on the other side of town called Carrollwood Massage Therapy that does an excellent job.  I wish that I could go more often, but my plan is to try and get a massage once a month during the training.  Between that and football being back, this week is getting better, post-Sunday run!

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.'

Riverhills Drive

Today was the first of the official long runs.  It was 6 miles.  Perhaps understandably, I found it hard to equate 6 miles with a long run.  After all, the actual marathon will require 6 miles, then another 20 and change afterward.  But 6 miles is still a decent distance, particularly when run in Florida summer conditions -- as I learned once the run was over.

The first 'big' race that I did was 10k, which amounts to 6.2 miles.  This made me feel like I had made it as a runner, for some reason, even though my time was horrid.  My run today, in Florida summer conditions, was better than that run.  It was the Tufts 10k, which I highly recommend if you live anywhere near Boston (and are female).  You run on the Cambridge side of the Charles, then back on Commonwealth Avenue, which is the wicked pretty part of Boston.  The race finishes in Boston Common (remember the Frog Pond?).  It's very well organized and a great day.  When I did it, friends and I sat on the grass afterward for a while, just enjoying the weather.  I highly recommend.

This is one race that I wish I could run again, particularly since I am now a better runner.  I think that it was a stretch at the time.  What I mostly remember about miles 4-6 was trying to push myself through mentally.  We were on Comm Ave, which is the part of Boston where the streets are organized alphabetically (NB: this is the only part of Boston that you can really say is 'organized').  I kept counting down the streets, but each one was taking far, far longer than I thought.  For instance, I remember thinking that I was almost past Exeter Street, then realizing that not only was I not past it, but I was not even there yet, and the intersection itself felt like it took 10 minutes.  And that was only the 'E' street.  I still had Dartmouth, Clarendon, Berkeley, and Arlington to go.

Anyway, today's 6 miles didn't require quite so much mental push, although I would have been utterly fine with stopping after 5 miles.  But I didn't, which is the whole point.  I need to be better about running to finish rather than running to finish well; this mentality will be really important during the marathon.  Six miles is still at the point where I could probably do decently well if I raced it tomorrow.  That cannot be said of 12 miles or anything beyond that, when it will just be about finishing.  I need to get more in that mindset, particularly since the conditions in Florida change (get awful) so drastically from the start to finish of long runs.

I ran around the golf course neighborhood, past some of the really nice sections.  This was on Riverhills Drive, which you may have deduced is near the river.  This was the oldest part of Temple Terrace that was built up and has a lot of very nice and interesting homes, plus plenty of shady oak trees.  Here's a sample of some of my favorites from today:

Near Ben Lomond Park.  There are a lot of Scottish names, presumably to go with the golf course theme.

One of the best aspects of Temple Terrace, in my opinion, is that the flora has grown in so nicely.  Other, more recent neighborhoods in Tampa don't have this.

I love the roof tiles!

My run today started on Riverhills Drive, turning about 2 miles in at Florida College.  I went by a spot of historical note: the exact place on the Temple Terrace golf course that Reverend Billy Graham received his calling from God.  Yes, he was out golfing and God spoke to him.  This is the fairway where this momentous event occurred:

Actual fairway where Billy Graham received calling.  It is the 18th hole.  Good thing he had almost finished the round.

I, however, had no such experience today.  The final photo I took as I was heading home, but it serves as a lovely encapsulation of the fact that yes, this neighborhood is built around a golf course:

When to run?

If all things were equal, I think that I would much prefer to run at sunset.  The humidity is down, the sun is not as powerful, and it is just more pleasant in my opinion.  But then you risk storms.  Today, I went around 7:00PM.  The weather was actually okay, especially with a bit of a cool breeze.  But the whole time there were mounting clouds and I got concerned that there would be a storm (there wasn't).

The morning run/evening run dilemma is just yet another one of the challenges posed by Florida.  There are only very small windows when you can run (early morning or before sunset).  I guess I could run at night, but it would make me nervous.  There are not always sidewalks or streetlights, not to mention that there are very few people outside.  When I was in Boston a few weeks ago, I realized that I was surprised to see people out at night.  It makes me more nervous to think that I would be out on my own at night, so I generally take a pass.

Undoubtedly, the highlight of today's run was coming back and passing the small pond.  There was an alligator that had surfaced and he was sitting there like he owned the place.  Actually, he does own the place, so more power to him.  Another good reason not to run at night: every so often, you do hear of a runner being attacked by an alligator.  No need for that.

Today I booked my massage for mid-September and ordered two new sports bras.  Can you tell that payday was yesterday?  Tomorrow I plan to go find some new shoes.  The old ones are definitely worn and I can feel some slight stiffness in my knee, which is the sign that new shoes are needed.  I hope I can find pretty ones!

Summer Sunrise Watermelon Race Series comes to a close

This morning, I ran the fourth and last race of the Summer Sunrise Watermelon Series, which was hosted by the Lakeland Runners Club.  These are the runs that I also refer to as the Florida Death Runs.  Basically, you run a 5k around a lake.  This might seem easy enough, but then add in Florida's summer temperatures, and you can quickly see where the challenge comes in.  My inspiration in signing up for this was that I thought that if I just ran, I wouldn't find morning running in Florida so bad.  I was completely wrong.  So my motivation about 0.5 miles into the first race was that if I could get through this, what could possibly be so bad about 26.2 miles in December in South Carolina?  Call it mental toughness development.

There is much to recommend this series.  The organization is excellent.  The price can't be beat ($15 for all four races).  If you did the whole series, you got a well-earned medal and t-shirt.  There was ample watermelon at the end, even for us slowbies.  The course, once around Lake Hollingsworth plus a teeny bit, is well-marked and lovely:

Actual photo of Lake Hollingsworth, taken this morning before the race.

The only drawback is the fact that it's in Florida during the summer.  Plus, you start at 7am, which is right around the time that the humidity is at its worst.

I started thinking about the four races as they might be titled if they were episodes of Friends.  There was:

• The One Where the Sun Rose Too Fast and It Got Hot (two people asked if I was going to be okay at the finish line);
• The One Where the Humidity Dropped to 80% and It Wasn't So Bad, Relatively Speaking;
• The One Where Tropical Storm Bonnie was Nearby and It Was Crazy Humid Throughout (one person asked if I was going to be okay at the finish line.  Plus I had to walk parts of it because the conditions were awful);
• The One Where I Finally Adapted (Somewhat) To Florida Heat.

Today's was by far the best of the four; I was still about a minute off from the Salem 5k that I did two weeks ago, but not nearly as slow as some of the previous races in the series (particularly #1 and #3).  Like I said, I have adapted.  Also, I'm in better running shape than I was for the other three thanks to the past month.  I was running before, but mostly aquajogging, which isn't really the same.  Because it's getting later in the season, the sun wasn't so bad today as the first run, where there was a pretty lengthy stretch with no shade -- probably I mean about 0.2 miles or something, but you feel it!  Also, I had my new fancy, wicking visor, which I suspect helped as well.

Whatever the reasons, the important thing is that they are over.  And I did them.  AND I got a well-earned medal:

Challenge Week

This morning was 'way gross.  No particular reason why.  It just was.  I looked at the Accuweather report from this morning (yay for weather websites that let you go back and see earlier conditions) and it was about normal, as far as gross conditions go: 80F, humidity of 87%, dew point of 76F, and a heat index of 100.  By the way, there is a generally acknowledged running guideline that any run you do when the humidity + temperature = 160F+ will be disgusting, which is pretty much the case from April to October here.  But today the icky conditions felt even more ick than normal.  It was a very sloggy four miles.  One of the only respites that I had was around mile 3.3ish, when I ran past a bunch of foliage that jutted out slightly into the sidewalk.  It rained last night and the water that had collected felt somewhat cool.  Seriously.  That was this highlight of this morning's run: slightly-not-hot rainwater.  Ugh.

Funny: last Sunday, I chose a route that went by a house that belongs to a friend (well, two friends actually that are married).  As I did, my friend was stepping out to get the papers, which is a somewhat weird coincidence.  Today, I took the same route and saw her at the corner, in her car, leaving for work.  Bizarre!  Her name is Stephanie, and I am hereby dubbing these 'Random Stephanie Encounters' (RSE).  Now that I've identified them, they will probably never happen again. 

I went closer to 8am than 9am today because I was supposed to go to a meeting at 11am for work.  Last night, I had an important realization: this is a challenging week.  Why?  Because it does not quite fit my normal routine.  I am very fortunate that I have an excellent job in the 'allowing me to train for long-distance running events' category.  While there are times when I need to be at the office at an appointed hour, for the most part, I can set my own schedule.  Actually, I chose my marathon plan based on the fact that I can train on my work-from-home days, so that I don't have to feel too much pressure about having everything wrapped up so that I can be at my desk at 9am.  And yes, I do recognize how sweet this is.  The flip side is that I do work seven days a week, which is less fun.

However, this week is a weird week.  We have meetings at unusual times.  We are having meetings almost every day.  We are having a lot of meetings, totaling, by my count, 9.5 hours -- generally I would estimate that I have more like ~2-3 hours a week (yes, I do need to be at the actual office more often than this, but we're just talking meetings here).  I'm getting stressed out about scheduling the running since it doesn't fit the normal plan.

And I realized last night that this is okay, even if I can't find a routine for this week.  There will be challenging weeks since I also have times that I need to travel.  But I'm hoping that by identifying them as challenging weeks, I will feel better about them.  By investing in this concept, I hope that it will make them less stressful.

Icky morning runs are not helping, though.

[Actually, I did not make the 11am meeting because there was a power outage and I couldn't open by automatic garage door.  This literally happened as I was preparing to go and the garage door opened 1/3rd of the way, then stopped.  If it were really an emergency, I could have opened it manually, but if  you want to come over to my stuffy garage in Florida heat/humidity to open it manually, go on right ahead.  I decided to take a pass.]

I'm definitely back in Florida

The first mile of this morning's run went well.  Again, I tried my 'go slightly later' approach and that seemed to be a better solution.  Even better, the sun was slightly shaded with clouds, so there weren't too many parts where I was directly exposed.

Miles 2 and 3, though, went less well.  Quite a bit less well.  The cloud cover -- sadly -- moved away and I was faced with full throttle sun.  I was really hoping for that Mile 1 vibe to last longer.  The moral of this story, likely, is to try and stick to running places that are shady, but it's almost impossible to avoid the sun entirely.

I was stiff to start today too.  It would be easy to blame the weights from yesterday, but actually I think that it was more the weights combined with me not stretching properly. For next time, then, better stretching.

Last night I did manage to do the tai chi, so make that two days in a row.  Whoo!  I'm kind of excited for the new DVDs to show up just for some variety, though.  I spent most of a summer doing the PM tai chi almost every night so it's a bit routine at this point.

Back in the 813

I woke up this morning, took a look at the clock, saw that it read 9am, and thought, 'I'll just go running later.'  But within 15 minutes of actually getting up I was in my running clothes, ready to go.  It's funny just how much running can become a habit after a while.  There have actually been times where I just didn't feel like it at all, but I would get changed and ready, then go.  Trust me, I am not complaining because I'm pretty sure that there would be a lot of days where I wouldn't if I didn't have this habit (somewhat) engrained!

Then I stepped outside and immediately thought, 'UGH!'  Florida summer hit me head on.  And the thought of actually running in Florida summer was even more grim.  But whatever, I did it and survived, even if it wasn't the best thing ever.

However, I do have to say that I think I have adapted.  Certainly today's run was less torture than the ones when I first started this training program.  I'm still much slower than I would like, but Boston served as a good reality check that these times are not really accurate. 

In fact, I think that going a bit later might be the way to go.  Sure, the sun makes it hot, but it also helps burn off the humidity and I'm starting to wonder if that's not what my body is mostly reacting against during those 7am-8am runs.  The humidity is over 90% usually at that time, whereas later, it's at least in the 70%-90% range.  So I might try running slightly later because I do feel less like death today.  At the same time, it took a lot of grit to get through long parts of the run with sun -- there weren't too many, since I chose a pretty shady path, but when it came down to me versus Florida sunshine, it definitely tested my mettle.

Also, I must thank the new wicking visor, which I suspect helped a lot.  Certainly today felt much better than days when I ran with my old visor with the added bonus that it helped (to some extent) with shading me from that Florida sun.

Last run in Boston

Before I talk about today's run, let me just say that if you live anywhere near a Whole Foods, you should run -- not walk -- to get some of the Gruyere reserve wheel cheese.  Ridiculously good.  I may have to make French Onion Soup just for the cheese if I can locate this at the Tampa Whole Foods.

Unfortunately, my friend couldn't make it out to run.  I decided to lounge around this morning and have a bit of a break.  I'm not one of those 'Must Run First Thing In The Morning' people by any means.  I think that you should run when you can...that being said, you do need to plan and make time to go.  Yesterday, I was proud of myself because I changed my plans to make sure I could fit my run in.  This scheduling stuff is important or else you can get behind.  Also, the clear advantage of going first thing in the morning is that your run is done and nothing can get in the way later.  I do prefer usually to go earlier rather than later, but either is fine, really.

Tonight was great: low humidity, good temperature, and a nice run by the Charles (again).  Needless to say, I will miss this, but there is something about running here that I will miss even more.  Even in this short week and a half, I feel like I'm developing better running technique.  For instance, halfway through tonight I noticed that my shoulders were raised, meaning that I was holding in too much tension.  So I spent the rest of my run concentrating on relaxing, ensuring that my shoulders didn't get too high.  When I get to hills, I can feel my legs powering up.  In general, I feel like there is more bounce in my step.  Today, I may have even -- momentarily -- hit a 10-minute mile...although I don't quite trust the mile splits that my phone provides because sometimes they are just wacky.  For instance, if I ran three miles in less than 36 minutes, I'm pretty sure I'm under 12-minute miles, whereas sometimes my phone disagrees.

I'm trying not to get morose about leaving Boston, although I'm pretty sure that my love for this city has come through pretty clearly.  Instead, I want to focus on what I can do to be a better runner in spite of Florida.  I am going to keep watching my technique and trying to improve in the areas that I noticed, such as keeping the shoulders down.  Part of the problem there, I believe, is that I get so caught up in the challenge of just running in those conditions that I forget about other aspects of my running.  Even though any distance feels like a challenge, it is not enough to only run.  It's time to step up the technique and make the best of a difficult situation.

Funnily enough, during the Red Sox game tonight (which is in Texas) the announcers got talking about how icky the conditions can be in the south.  They were of the mindset that no one ever fully adapted to the heat and humidity.  That being said, it sounded far nastier there than Tampa: it was 100F at the start of the game.  Ew.

I ran into a guy in the elevator tonight who told me that he has been working in Boston for three months and has only been running outside four times.  Instead, he runs on the treadmill.  Tragedy!

No luck today

I should go check my horoscope for today.  It probably said something like this:

"Your plans will not come to fruition, no matter how good your intentions.  Also, avoid running in swamps."

After this morning's fiasco, I decided to go to my gym and finish up the last 4 miles of my 5 mile run.  There is a 30 limit on the cardio equipment, but I decided to cheat by doing 30 minutes (at a 5 mph, or a 12-minute mile split), then finish the last 18 minutes after taking a brief walk around the facility, thus allowing anyone waiting for the treadmill to jump on it whilst I wasn't there.  Since no one did, I claimed the treadmill and finished up my 18 minutes.  But it did not feel good.  Not one little bit.  In fact, it's good that I stopped after the 30 because I'm pretty sure that I didn't have the power to get through another 18 without a break.  I was on the verge of overheating.  Inside.

I've run on the treadmill at my gym before and did not find it overwhelming.  It's slightly hot, but not too bad, and they have a fan right next to the treadmills to help you recover.  Today, though, was not especially fun.  I was wondering if I really was just not in shape or what was happening, but before freaking out I decided to check with the gym employee to see how hot it was.

The temperature gauge is in a different room than the treadmill.  According to the gauge, it was 75F.  According to the employee, the treadmill room is generally a few degrees hotter than that room.

In other words, it was too freaking hot for running on a treadmill.  The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that a fitness center be between 68-71F -- I just found this doing a quick Google search and haven't been able to confirm it on the ACSM website, but that seems about right.  However, this is not taking into account the humidity outside.  If it is humid outside -- and dear Lord, was it ever this afternoon (in the 80% range) as a thunderstorm was forming -- then probably a few degrees lower is not amiss.

So maybe 75+ is a little warm?

Not my day for running!  Tomorrow is stretching (yay), then only one more run in Florida.  Wednesday's run, barring any unexpected events, will be four miles next to the beautiful Charles River.  Here's hoping it isn't the beautiful yet smelly Charles River.

Where not to run

Here's a tip: don't go for runs in a swamp. Particularly in Florida during the summer. And especially during a heat advisory.

How did this happen? After yesterday's not-so-terrible run, I was feeling pretty confident and was hoping that the worst was over. Today, for my 5 mile run, I decided to check out Lettuce Lake Park. I had been told that this was a good place to go running; in fact, the person who mentioned it was surprised to learn that I hadn't been yet (what can I say, I used to live in the other end of town and it wasn't exactly convenient). So I decided that it would be fun to check it out for this morning's run just to shake things up a bit.

Big. Mistake.

Lettuce Lake Park is essentially a swamp. Not like the bayou or anything, but if there were rain, it would get filled, and I think that it would be even more swamp-like. There are plants everywhere and it is exceedingly humid.

Note that the humidity is already on the high end here in Florida, not to mention that pesky heat advisory from yesterday, which is still in effect. And the dew point was 79F (!) this morning. That is one mere degree away from the danger zone. And I was in a swamp.

I don't quite know how to explain just how awful I felt. Let's just say that sweat was already amassing in my hair about 1/4 of a mile in. This is one of the grosser feelings that I know: sweat just accumulating with nowhere to go. As I went on, I was literally drenched. My time was unbelievably bad -- even worse than my earlier runs this week.

I'm going to finish up the run later this afternoon on the treadmill at the gym. Dividing runs is not the worst thing in the world, but I don't think that most running experts have in mind that you only got through one mile of your five mile run when they recommend it.

It just started raining. Had I continued my run, I would be out there right now. Rain here is not some kind of nice relief from the heat. The humidity and everything tends to continue. Plus you risk a thunderstorm, which can be very violent. So maybe things are best that I didn't finish...except that it is still bugging me!

An almost pleasant run. Which is weird. For several reasons.

This morning I was back on the road (with no noticeable dental issues) and did a 3 mile run. I decided to go over to the core of Temple Terrace, which is the section built around the golf course. If you do have to run in Florida, then there are certainly far worse places to be than Temple Terrace. The houses are interesting: some were built in the 1920s, while the bulk were from the 1960s. None of them looks like a McMansion. And there are plenty of trees that offer wonderful, comforting shade. It was -- dare I say -- almost pleasant at points.

I was a bit concerned because I didn't quite handle this morning in the best possible way. First, I stayed up far too late last night watching Cheers reruns. I love Cheers. Basically, I love almost anything set in Boston, plus if I had to pick the TV character I most resemble, I think that I would go with Diane Chambers. To top things off, it was the story arc where Sam was dating Captain Janeway (okay, it was really Kate Mulgrew and her character's name was Janet Eldridge) and Diane quit working at the bar. Then Sam proposed to Diane and she had to dig his picture out of the garbage. I still remember this episode from when it originally aired, a sign that I am getting old. At any rate, despite the fact that I know sleep is important, particularly when you are training to run a major event, I couldn't resist watching and got to bed at an unreasonable hour.

Not surprisingly, it was tricky to get out of bed this morning and I thought that the late start would be deleterious. To my surprise, it really wasn't. In fact, parts when I was running in the shade were downright nice. Don't get me wrong: it was still tough and I was all red and sweaty by the end. But it felt less like death that previous runs this week. Also, I cut my mile split by over a minute from Wednesday. I'm not quite sure exactly how much I cut it by because I accidentally hit 'Power Up' instead of 'Stop Run' on my phone app. When you hit 'Power Up,' the app plays Seal's 1991 hit song 'Crazy.' That was unexpected.

When I got home, I thought I would double-check to make sure that Florida is not experiencing some kind of 'cold front' -- HA! But as it turns out, it is even more hot than normal. Icky hot. Heat warning hot. Heat index already in the 100F range hot at 10am. But the run didn't feel so bad.

I saw Inception earlier this week and I'm wondering if this wasn't all a Cheers-induced dream. We'll know if Captain Janeway suddenly shows up.

PS - Apparently, those of us who 'like' the Kiawah Island Marathon on Facebook get a chance to sign up early tonight. So tonight's the night!