Category Archives: hot

Hot eight miles in under 10 min mile pace

Posted on by
Reply

As my morning wore on I felt the heat rising hotter and hotter. The humidity joined in and I started to doubt my resolve to run. But my resolve won out and as soon as I finished a batch of work I had to do and Comcast paid us a visit to replace the box that we just had replaced (they gave us the wrong one) I was off. 78 degrees and about the same humidity (higher inside the canyon with the proximity to water), it was brutal. But I was firm with myself about getting moving.

When I first walked out of my office after gathering all my gear my stomach rumbled. I realized I was pretty hungry. I decided to pospone leaving until I could gobble a half of a clif bar. It was the perfect amount of food to hold me over and keep my stomach from rumbling. I also filled up my water bottle full thinking that the extra weight (I have been only bringing a half full bottle as of late) that was nagging me would eventually go away. I could have actually used a refill but I portioned my bottle out and drained it about a half mile from the end.

I started out only wanting to do a short run, but after a couple miles my pace was strong and I felt like I could top that 10 min mile mark. This inspired me to keep going and add on miles. I decided on my eight mile route and through the canyon I was still 90 seconds ahead of a 10 min mile pace. The heat and humidity in the canyon really sapped me, but I pushed on. My last mile and a half were quite a bit slower and I really started to drag. I even walked for a short distance twice which I rarely do, but it helped me quite a bit especially on the big hill out of reed.

Several times during the run I pushed myt pace a bit. Not too hard as I didn’t want to completely fade at the end (which more or less happened anyway). But I really wanted to break the 10 min mile pace barrier. And I did. 9:52 for 7.75 miles. I am pretty happy with that.

Another short break ends with a long run

Posted on by
Reply

Well not too long, but longer than I have done lately. This break comes courtesy of my schedule, too much music to keep running regularly. But I can’t blame it all on the music, my laziness has had its place in this as well.Today, I broke through the lazy barrier and slipped on my running shoes and out the door I went.

Speaking of shoes, I have always had a problem with foot sensations. My feet often feel like I am wearing shoes that are too tight. This gets pretty uncomfortable while I am running for sure. Sometimes I just focus on my feet not feeling so uncomfortable and I can trick myself into believing it. I am not too good at it, but I try. It usually works well for short stretches of time. I visualize my feet hitting the ground and how they compress with each step. I often try to feel the entire bottom of my foot hitting the ground flatly and evenly. Its almost as if each step is embracing the weight I am putting on it. This will work or short periods of time, but my brain is smart enough to know discomfort when it feels it! Still, it often gets me through the ends of my runs. Last week I was noticing how particularly tight the fronts of my feet near the ball of my foot and toes. As I was going along and ruminating on it I looked down at my feet and noticed that they look ed a little tight as well. So when I got home I loosened them up quite a bit especially towards the bottom of the laces. This seemed to help quite a bit, especially at the start. After a mile or so I had to tighten them up a bit near the top, but I left the toe area loose. As the run went on they started feeling tight again around mile 3.5. I have noticed this threshold before as well. Probably has to do with my feet swelling a bit as they get stomped on. Still I have to say this really seemed to help. Certainly didn’t stop the discomfort, but hey, us msers are all about small improvements! And I was able to run eight miles today with little issue. At one point I noticed that my breathing felt pretty solid, my legs didn’t feel tired, I didn’t feel tired and it was only my feet that were barking at me. The looser laces seemed to help me with my visualizing of comfort as I felt my feet spreading out and filling my shoes. Overall I think it was a good decision, now I just need to loosen my other pair!

It wasn’t too hot today at noon, but not cool either. I am finding myself really enjoying the hot runs. Of course I have to have water which is sort of a pain, but it isn’t too bad to deal with, especially now that I loosened my water belt a tad too to go along with my shoes! Sweating so hard really takes it out of me hydration wise and I have to really work to reestablish proper levels. Still working on it today…

3 days, 3 runs

Posted on by
Reply

The day beckoned and about noonish I finally heard it. My third run in three days. All in the heat and the last two with water (funny, the hardest run had no water.) Today’s run was a short 4 miles through the canyon and back. It was arm out but once I got to the canyon the humidity really got stifling. It always looks like it is going to be cooler down there but even in the shade it is hot and thick. But even with that it is a beautiful place to run and a good workout from a sweating standpoint.

I usually run slower on the trails down there, the footing is tight in some areas and the slower I go the less damage to the trails. That said recently I have been pushing the tempo, powering up the hills and doing my Portland-stylie parkour over roots and fallen trees. The trails stairs down to the canyon have to be taken in big leaping steps or a skip and they end at a tricky network of roots through the trail, pretty easy actually if you know they are there. Then there is my big leap over the old log laying across the trail. Portland-stylie parkour is da shit!

I am still running on my old neutral shoes. My feet don’t really feel much better but they don’t see to be aching as much. Still not sold on them. I still am interested in trying one of the natural running shoes…

 

Its almost 80

Posted on by
Reply

Wow, my first hot (and humid) run of the year. I knew it was going to be tough, but I wanted to get it in before the day ended. I was going on two days in a row of not running and looking like three. Plus I was all fired up from finally writing my diatribe against healthnet and their lack of individual coverage of rebif for people with ms. It almost appears as if the disease is not recognized. I wonder what other fake diseases are out there? Ok, sorry, back to running.

The run went well for the first part. I managed to find some shade for most of it. Still I felt pooped pretty quickly despite eating a great vegan energy bar from Organic Food Bar. I’m gonna have to get more of these. I did bring water and I forced myself to go with the sipping routine to keep hydrated. The problem was I sipped too much and my water was gone before I was half-way through with the run. At about four miles I still hadn’t stopped running to walk, but when I hit the canyon the humidity of the rain forest was in full gear. I decided a walk through the canyon would be about all I could do, and barely that. It was oppressive but once I got out of the canyon the humidity tapered back a bit.

Once I was back up on our plateau and only facing a flat run, I decided to run the rest of the way home which worked out just fine. I actually had a little bit of water left, just enough to see me through. Phew! What a run. Now I need to mow the lawn.

Its almost 80

Posted on by
Reply

Wow, my first hot (and humid) run of the year. I knew it was going to be tough, but I wanted to get it in before the day ended. I was going on two days in a row of not running and looking like three. Plus I was all fired up from finally writing my diatribe against healthnet and their lack of individual coverage of rebif for people with ms. It almost appears as if the disease is not recognized. I wonder what other fake diseases are out there? Ok, sorry, back to running.

The run went well for the first part. I managed to find some shade for most of it. Still I felt pooped pretty quickly despite eating a great vegan energy bar from Organic Food Bar. I’m gonna have to get more of these. I did bring water and I forced myself to go with the sipping routine to keep hydrated. The problem was I sipped too much and my water was gone before I was half-way through with the run. At about four miles I still hadn’t stopped running to walk, but when I hit the canyon the humidity of the rain forest was in full gear. I decided a walk through the canyon would be about all I could do, and barely that. It was oppressive but once I got out of the canyon the humidity tapered back a bit.

Once I was back up on our plateau and only facing a flat run, I decided to run the rest of the way home which worked out just fine. I actually had a little bit of water left, just enough to see me through. Phew! What a run. Now I need to mow the lawn.