At Least There Were Things To Look At

Ugh. Another hot morning.

It was a scorcher today. I didn't start my run early, but I was still out the door at a reasonable time. It didn't matter. It still felt hot on my long run today. There was even a breeze and the temperature wasn't as high as it will be later in the summer, but I was dogging it today.

I ran to Route 66 State Park, ran two laps, and then ran home. It was hot in the park because the breeze wasn't as strong and my second lap was slower than the first. Then the run home slowed down to the 8-minute range and I basically jogged the last mile as a cool-down.

I haven't been hydrating during my long runs like I did when I was training for New York and I think that's becoming an issue now that I'm creeping over 8 miles at a time. Tonight I noticed I had a very mild sunburn so the heat and sun were probably bad enough that I should have hydrated during the run.

There were a few perks to today's long run though. I was treated to several interesting sightings along the way:

The first was that the Sno Biz snow cone shack was being set up in town!!! I Love snow cones and I'm working my way through the entire menu of flavors at Sno Biz. Seeing them set up shop on my way through town made my morning. Unfortunately, I also passed them on my way back and they were more of a cruel tease almost 9 miles into a 10+ mile run.

Pic Source

When I was in the park, I passed an absolutely gorgeous butterfly that was sitting on a disgustingly large pile of dog poop. It was there on both laps so it must have been enjoying itself and I found it oddly humorous. I'm sure there's a lot of poetic irony in that image and I was sorry I left the camera at home today. Apparently, I'm not the only one who finds this sight mesmerizing because I did a google image search and plenty of people have pics of this very thing. For some reason, just seeing a picture of a butterfly on poop is a little gross though so I'll post a pic of this t-shirt instead:

Pic Source

Finally, when I topped the hill on Central on my way home, I had to stop at the intersection to wait for traffic. While I was waiting, a field mouse came darting through the intersection, dodging cars frantically as it ran through the busy street. It ran right past my feet and head-first into the curb. I guess it was in full-on fight or flight mode and ran into the curb in a panic. The little guy shook it off, hopped the curb, ran into the grass and bushes, and disappeared. I feel like it's pretty rare that I see mice (thankfully), let alone one dodging through an intersection, and especially not successfully. Good for him!

I got home, showered, put on my compression sleeves and took it easy for a couple of hours. Then Liz and I went out for some more yard work (The yard is looking good!) and the temperature dropped drastically as some rain moved in. Good old Missouri weather... always changing. I know I keep saying this, but I hope it decides to cool off for race day.

Sunday
Goal For The Day: Long Run.
Distance: 10.21 Miles.
Time: 1:18:27. 7:41 Avg. (7:08, 7:08, 7:16, 7:35, 7:14, 7:30, 7:35, 7:53, 8:09, 8:53, 2:02*).
Route: To Rte. 66/1 Lap/Home.
Conditions: 75 degrees. 9:29AM.
Run Details On Garmin

Notes: It was only 75 degrees at the start and almost 85 degrees by the time I finished. No wonder I felt like slowing down. I know this is better than when I'll be running in the mid-90's but I'm still being teased with 50 degree mornings right now. I'm also hoping that part of this is mental and physical fatigue from dense training. Hopefully on race day, I'll be rested and able to average 45-60 per mile faster than this. Hopefully. Not a single mile under 7-minute pace today. Ugh.

Daily Miles: 10.21 Miles.
2012 Totals:
  Run - 385.08 Miles.
  Bike - 0.00 Miles.
  Swim - 8,250 meters.

Not Acclimated

Today, I planned to get in the Long Run that I ended up shortening last week. I wanted to run 8-10 miles this morning and figured I could just go late enough in the morning that I could cut the grass when I got back without waking the neighbors too early on a Sunday. My plan to leave later in the morning meant I didn't successfully beat the heat.

I left the house around 8:45 and it was already hot and crazy humid. The first three miles were fine because there was an occasional breeze, but when I got into Route 66 State Park, the air was dead. The park is nice and flat, but today it was like running in a sauna and I'm definitely not acclimated to the heat and humidity yet.

Pic Source

(This guy ran an 'underwater marathon' for wounded troops.

His name is Brad and the guy who wrote the article is named Brad.

And my name is Brad and this is what it felt like running outside today.)

Each mile was slightly slower than the one before it. Then as I was leaving the park, I stopped to give someone directions to get back to the highway. I also realized I really had to pee so I went into the brick oven that they call a restroom in Kircher Park. When I started running again, I was drenched in sweat and even less motivated to worry about my pace.

Thankfully, there was more of a breeze when I got back into the hills of town but I still took it easy. In fact, I pretty much jogged the last mile as a cool-down. When I hit 8 miles even, I was still about a quarter of a mile from home so I stopped and walked the rest of the way to cool down some more before going back in the house.

I downed some Gatorade and towelled off before cutting the grass. By the time I was finished, I was feeling pretty wiped out. I should have taken a nap because I felt drained the rest of the day.

On the bright side, I put on my new compression sleeves when I finally sat down for lunch and they felt amazing!!! I think I'll get a lot of use out of them!

Sunday
Goal For The Day: Long Run.
Distance: 8.01 Miles.
Time: 1:00:29. 7:33 Avg. (6:55, 6:56, 6:57, 7:21, 7:30, 7:48, 7:50, 9:01, 0:07*).
Route: To Rte. 66/1 Lap/Home
Conditions: 78 degrees and humid. 8:42AM.
Run Details On Garmin

Notes: Today was a good reminder that Hospital Hill could be a hot one. Most of my marathons and halves have been cold-weather runs. I realized I was imagining a cold morning for Hospital Hill. That isn't very likely for the first week of June.

Daily Miles: 8.01 Miles.
2012 Totals:
  Run - 326.18 Miles.
  Bike - 0.00 Miles.
  Swim - 7,450 meters.