Tag Archives: rain

Cold wet run

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My run today was just after 12:30 or so and I hadn’t eaten lunch yet. I knew I needed something in me so I decided to eat half of a Clif bar. Half is perfect for me before a run, so why did I get distracted and gobble the entire things? No idea, but off I went. I don’t think it had much (if anything) to do with eating the whole thing, but I felt sluggish right off the bat. I noticed it as I scratched the surface of my run while I was crossing Woodstock Park just down the street from me. Previously when I have felt tired at the start of runs my energy level has peaked after a mile or so but not today. I was dragging.

Three miles into the run I checked my watch, my avg HR was really low – 130. This sort of made sense since I was going so slow, but HR seems to creep when I am tired. Even odder was my pace. Even creeping I was running under 10 min miles. Since I didn’t know what the run was before I started, I thought that I could make it a recovery run with an HR under 144 (I had a lot of wiggle room.) But I decided that doing the run under 10 was more important, so I picked up the pace a little (ay least it seemed like it anyway.) I cut the run short for my base run (10k) and did 5 miles even. I was able to maintain the under 10 for the rest of the run but I got pretty close to going over.

I felt a twinge in my groin about halfway into it. It was slight so I kept on and I haven’t felt it all day since the run so I am not too worried. Cold rain didn’t help either, though it actually probably did.

Puddle jumping

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As I write this at 2:30 in the afternoon it is so dark here in Portland that my light sensitive outdoor Christmas lights just went on! When I ran a couple hours ago the weather wasn’t nearly as bad as it is right now! Much better blogging weather than running weather. But like I said, my run wasn’t a whole lot dryer. When I got out of bed this morning I immediately got into my running gear even though I suspected I wouldn’t run for several hours. I wanted (and needed) an inspiration I could get to get out in the rain and not blow off another day. It has only been two days since I ran so I don’t feel like I am doing too badly.

I have a rehearsal tonight, so I didn’t want to run too hard or far today. I ended up running my typical distance of 10k but somewhat slowly (10.07 min miles). It was funny my route was all over the place to accomodate a bathroom stop at the college and a return of rotton oranges at Safeway, but it ended up being my usual 10k (or close). It rained the entire time, so hard at the start that I almost backed out. Fortunately it tapered a little after about 30 mins, but it was pretty steady still. My glasses were a foggy splattered mess the entire time which caused me to be extra careful (and let the slow pace excuses begin…) The other thing slowing me down today were the puddles that I was constantly having to jump over especially at the corners of every intersection I managed to come across. But the good news is that I successfully managed to do my rainy day parkour and kept my feet dry on the inside for the entire run. The outsides of my shoes look like typical Oregon running shoes though, brown splattered and a mess.

I’m really glad I managed to get out today, I think it has helped my mood considerably. If I can get a good run in the weather can do just about anything afterwards and it won’t phase me! I have friends who are really hobbled by Seasonal Affective Disorder, but it doesn’t seem to have much affect on me. As long as I can get a run in!

On a side running note last night was the third night in a row I haven’t eaten after 7PM. This is my biggest issue with weight gain, I like to eat at night. I find if I can start a streak of not eating then that I can do it and it becomes much easier (same with running too I guess). So three days down, rest of my life to go!

Snow and rain slowing me down

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After the speed work I got a couple of 10k runs in before I was completely snowed and rained out of running for three days. I actually probably could have run a couple of days but convenience got in the way. Plus I wasn’t all that enthused to go out in the weather. We have some serious flooding going on around the state. We are high enough up that it won’t worry us except for making a muddy swamp out of the backyard. Today I broke the three day run-less streak.

When I first headed out it wasn’t raining. I did have puddles to dance around everywhere I went and it didn’t take long to soak my shoes. Pretty soon the rain started and took care of the rest of me. Today’s run was very different in another way too, my watch wasn’t charged. So no stats, no nothing! I knew how far I went cause I often run the 6.3 mi course but no time, no HR info. Jeez what do I do? Actually I only caught myself looking at my wrist a couple times and I knew all the times my HR was high!

Running with wet feet is no fun.

More rain, less miles

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Its really strange to me but I am starting to hate the rain. I guess I am just getting sick of it. I actually love the rain and I like running in it a lot. Part of this change in attitude may have to do with running with the dog. I get really nervous with her when she gets wet, she is just to squirmy and slippery, even with her harness (or as I call it haulter since when I pullback she halts. Plus haulter sounds sexier!) So sun is supposedly on the way, but so is mom for a week so I won’t get to run in it. I am sure I’ll have plenty of sun coming up.

I saw an ms running event advertised today, Mud Run ms Portland. It looks like a lot of fun and I was thinking seriously about doing it, But then I watched one of their videos and they have to do some pretty serious climbing, screw that! Maybe its only serious cause I am a heights wuss, Still, I’ll pass.

Fastest tempo run yet and then rain

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Yesterday I set out to do a tempo run. I wasn’t feeling to into it and the air quality was really poor from either a forest fire or more likely wood burning that has become so popular in the area. If its wood (or even looks like wood) burn it! No regard for pollution, just burn it! Anyway, I could rant for hours about this but I have a run to talk about. So my breathing was not great and I had to keep coughing to remove my neighbors enjoyable fires from my lungs (wait, I said I wouldn’t rant anymore.) So as I was going through a warm up and approaching my tempo route I was none to confident in my abilities. Still, I forged on, I really wanted to get this out of the way in my schedule of quality runs.

The first mile came really easily to me and I recorded a 7:33. I was feeling it in my lungs, but I still felt pretty strong. As I pulled through the second mile I realized I had to slow down. Seems I went out to fast for that first mile. So I paced it down a bit, but still kept pushing it. It was tough, but my second mile was not to bad at 8:13. At the start of the third mile I kept thinking about something my running partner heard at her boot camp. If you are doing a quality run and can’t keep up then its not a bad idea to bag it. The thinking with that being that you aren’t getting the benefit from the activity if you aren’t doing it properly. It was starting to sound like a really good idea. But, I remembered my philosophy of powering through difficulty to build yourself for the future. Sort of a variation of ‘no pain, no gain’. While I disagree with Nike’s motto I am all for powering pushing myself through the hard parts. So I kept at it albeit slower yet. In the end I finished my third mile at 8:40 which wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be and as it turns out the fastest I have done my three mile tempo run yet. So I was really happy with the run. I finished up with a run through the canyon and home.

This morning I got up early to go for a run with my running partner. She is not much for the rains and it is even harder for her to get through that first wet run. So was prepared for the text saying she was bagging it. So alone I headed out for eight miles of recovery. It was a good run, slow and easy and a nice change from the previous days tempo. I didn’t mind the rains too much even though it was too warm to wear my running jacket. So I stripped it off and got soaked. Still it was a nice run. I was actually surprised at the number of runners I ran into in teh rain. Good to see everyone keeping up with it. Now I just need to work on my running partner. She’ll come around!

Another recovery run, two in a row

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In an attempt to wipe out my feeling of being wiped out I did a second recovery run today both coming after my 15.5 mi long run on Sunday. I think I could use several more! Today I tried a different route that I have been thinking about. It actually had a good mile of uphill as I attacked Mt Tabor from the west side. I didn’t go all the way to the top though and kept the run to six miles, easy miles other than the hilly portion. The last third was pretty much downhill and relatively easy going, but I was feeling so worn out that it was actually somewhat excruciating. My feet hurt and my legs were tired but I really wanted to run in the rain today. It was so nice and cool. I brought my rain shell for the first time in a long while, but it wasn’t cool enough to keep it on so around the waste it went. It makes a good reflector there.