Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I am so giving up on the outdoor running until September.

Bleah! I had hoped that I would have osmething good to say today like "Wow, new record for me!" or something along those lines. Instead what I have to say is that I had a lousy run and although I made roughly 4 miles total, it was split over three different runs with a rest in between.

I dislike pinning performances like this on external factors, just because I feel like I'm making excuses, but I do have to acknowledge that the humidity was weighing me down like I was a sponge, that it was 85 degrees outside and felt hotter, and that I just don't have a lot of experience running in those conditions. I also hadn't had a great deal of liquid immediately before running (I am always confused as to just how full of water I should be before running).

On the other hand, I didn't stop running at 1.6 miles because I *had* to. I let myself stop, because I was tired, and I could have pushed myself harder and kept going and I might have felt less tired in a while. But I've had times when I've nearly felt sick but up until feeling that way I've been actually enjoying myself, and the truth is that I just wasn't enjoying this run. Except for hte first mile or so I just didn't like it. And bleah! So now I'm cranky. >:P

My total today was just under 4.0 - I think - I'm approximating, as usual. I believe that I did 1.6, then walked .4, ran 1.1 and walked .7, and then ran another 1.2 or so. All told my running time wasn't so bad - I think I probably could have gone slower and run for longer - the 3.9 or so miles I did in about 37 minutes (all times approximate), which is REALLY fast for me, so I probably was pushing myself a little harder than I should have. Another reason I'm sticking to the treadmill for a little while after this. Unless it's raining and/or really mild, August is a no-go for outside runs (except the 5K at the end of the month, which I'm about to start really training for, hardcore).

Anyway, I'm not looking for support or cheering-up messages; I know what I'm able to do. I've BEEN doing really well on the treadmill both in terms of mileage and in terms of speed, so I know it's not like I'm slacking off. I just want to be able to say "Yay! I had a breakthrough and did this new thing I haven't done!" and I'm not getting to. *pout*

Meantime my plan for the rest of the week is to re-introduce running as the focus (after taking a mini-breather the past two weeks). I'm still going to only do a mile on Wednesdays and Fridays, at least to start, but they're going to have a focus to them; I'm still going to take Mondays off from running entirely, I don't plan on changing that. But I'm going to try to start really focusing on hill training.

My plan for the rest of the week is this:
W - 1 mile run on 2% elevation (6.0 mph)
Th - speed intervals
F - 1 mile run on 2% elevation (6.5 mph)
Sa - Distance run
Su - hills workout

Next Tuesday I'm going to focus on my mileage again, with the intent of getting up to 4 miles without stopping as soon as possible. I'm quite close! :) I guess what I'm really training for is the 8K that is in September. I'm really looking forward to that one.

3 comments:

EmLit said...

I don't blame you for feeling the way you do. Those hot outdoor runs can be so nasty and can really bring you down. And like we were talking about earlier, sometimes it's hard to fit it in any other way. Maybe the humidity will let up soonish?

I know, I know, but we could always be blindly optimistic, right?

SueWho said...

well, 85 degrees doesn't seem that hot comparatively speaking, but that humidity today was a killer! That will do it! I know, because I rode home on a bus without a/c and it was bad. But me? I work out in an air-conditioned gym. Maybe I'll be ready to move outside in September, who knows?

Binx said...

you have to have a bad run some times! i had a bad one today, too
:( oh well!