Girl Talk

It's not the heat...

Did anyone run last night? Wow - I'm not sure how my friends in Houston and Orlando do it. It was only about 90 - maybe less than that, but the humidity was around 50%.

It's definitely a challenge running in high humidity. I can't decide if it's actually better to run in the heat without the humidity though - Phoenix people, feel free to weigh in. At least in the humidity you sweat (potentially a LOT) so when there's even a tiny breeze, you cool a little.

Last evening it rained. We stood at the window in the office and watched it come through, but it didn't actually rain at the office. It missed us by about a mile. Since we're on the 20th floor, and there's nothing in the way (like mountains or other buildings) you can see the rain coming and watch it go right past. So, technically, the rain brought the temp down a little bit. But, because it didn't actually rain on us, the humidity stayed high.

I headed out and thought - "oh, this is a bad idea". But actually, after I got out in the open it wasn't too terrible. Not until the end. They say it only takes 2 or 3 runs in weather like that to get used to it. About a week to acclimate completely.

I guess last year I spent more time running on the treadmill during the summer. But I do like the evening run on Campion trail. I hate to wish my life away, but I'm looking forward to fall, when it's cooler in the evening and I can get a good 5 or 7 miles in on the trail. I suppose this is the very reason why people like to get up at the crack of dawn and go running. I just really like hitting the snooze button...

The Marathon Training Fun has Begun

This morning we did a 5 miler at the lake. It was great weather. Not to hot, not to humid, a little breezy and the run felt really good - my first really good run in a long time.

I am officially coaching the Red 2 group - about 25 women and men who were paced between a 10.3 and 11 minute mile. This is the perfect pace for me - not to fast, not too slow. I'm really looking forward to sharing what I learned last year and learning more this year from my group and from training in general.

I know it sounds funny to many of you, but I'm really happy to be training for a marathon again. I'm a marathoner and I can't wait for race day!

Speedy

Well, speed class is over. I know I got speedier and I want to continue to get speedier but speed class was really a challenge for me. There is pain in speed work. There is pain in distance training. But the pain in distance training - the nagging tightness, the sore joints, the fact that everything from the waist down seems to "hurt" just a little (or a lot) at about mile 15 - that's different from speed pain.

I only ended up going to 2 of the 4 track workouts. The 5 x 800s (twice around the track as fast as you can, 5 times with a 2 minute "rest" in between) were awful. Of course I could've just run at my regular pace and not really tried. but the whole idea is to try to run fast. Maybe it was the impending lactic acid, but this workout made me feel like I wanted to throw up or pee my pants (sorry - but it did). That's not fun. That's waaay different from the pain in my hip flexors, my left ankle and my right butt cheek at mile 15.

But I know I'm speedier. ...

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2:13:23

Woo Hoo!!

I ran the OKC Memorial half in 2:13:23!!

I had wanted to run it in 2:15 (or a little less) and I met my goal. The weather was, well, ok - raining and windy when we got to the event but the rain stopped before the starting gun. It was still windy but not horrible and the temp stayed at around 48 for the entire event. The wind made it cold at the start and I wore the plastic poncho until around mile 6 to stay warm. (Note to self - buy a hundred plastic ponchos and keep them in a safe place!!) The course was a giant loop so we had the wind at our backs the whole second half. I will say I was happy to turn off at the 7 mile mark when the marathoners kept going. I may be in half marathon shape but I'm definitely not in full marathon shape!! ...

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Setting a Personal Record

Today I ran a 5k and I PR'd.

I've kind of been a little curious about the "personal record" since I mostly just get out there and run and sometimes I do well and sometimes I do OK and other times I know I could've done better. And I'm still in the "first" phase (first 20k, first half marathon, first marathon etc...) so, while I keep track of my times, I'm really thinking about finishing. I've run several 5k's and gotten better as I've continued to run them. I think I run/walked my first 5k at the lightning speed of 38 minutes and change. But today was different. After 12 weeks of speed training - it appears I'm actually getting faster! ...

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