Runner's support and Accountability

@starbee oh, that’s more like swimming than running. Ouch! Soupy! Great job getting it in, and still a good pace even with all those stops and starts that you had to endure! And hey look, you’re getting a jump on the tiredness that you’re going to feel!

Leia and I ran around the neighborhood again this morning. Yesterday I was not feeling great and I think it was because of the pressure change. I had so much pressure in my head, ears and face that it was making me feel nauseous. It took until about 2pm for the Sudafed to work and I finally felt better. But then around midnight I woke up feeling nauseous again and that feeling kept waking me up. I had a lot of broken sleep. I woke up this morning and still felt sick, but I went out to run anyway because I likely won’t be able to next week.

It was 81% humidity and 84* so very hot, sticky and gross. I was a lot slower than usual but it can’t be helped.

Time: 34:12
Distance: 3.00 miles
Pace: 11’23”

I still felt nauseous for a couple hours after running but now I feel better. It’s not looking like it’s going to cool down overnight anytime soon!

So this happened this week. One of our metroparks close to home held a 5k Thursday night, 7/25, appropriately named Christmas in July Under the Moon 5k. Total family friendly event complete with a dj playing Christmas carols at the start/finish, a display of Christmas lights, and many people dressed up in Christmas attire. It wasn’t scheduled to start until 9:30 and Kathy didn’t want to go that late with work the next day so this was to be my very first ever 5k on my own! However I didn’t really know what kind of time to expect as it was at night and through the woods of the park, so had to make sure I was cautious to not trip and avoid injury. I wanted to use intervals as much as possible and as it turns out the first mile was mostly on pavement, which really helped. I was surprised when the lady in my phone said my first mile was 12:01! The second and third were forced slower just by virtue of it was darker and more through the woods on the trails but I still managed to complete them in under 14 minute/mile paces. I wound up completing the 5k at 3.2 miles in a total time of 40:20! An average pace of 12:36/mile! WHAT?! No way did I think I could ever hit that for a full 5k! Under 13 minutes per mile average?! I was so happy with that! I guess my next goal is to complete a 5k in under 40 minutes! I wore my knee brace/sleeve and other than being very sweaty I felt great afterwards! No knee pain at all that night or the next day, even cutting the grass and doing yard work.

So I was so inspired by that time that I decided to go out around the neighborhood on my birthday Saturday morning and see if I could keep 60:30 walk/run intervals for a while. Well, I did and completed 1.75 miles for a 11:47 pace! Sub 12/minute miles! I thought for sure I was too old and slow to ever see that! I was getting winded towards the end so I need to realize that when I’m doing fully paced intervals like that, I need to slow my walking pace down a bit. Use them more for recovery from my runs. But I am so thrilled and proud of that pace!

We went for our next long distance record of 12 miles yesterday morning. This one started out really well, but as the sun got hotter and started to bake the trail, the results were nearly disastrous. I hit the wall on mile 5, which in our heat is a vast improvement from my usual of hitting the wall on mile 2 or 3. Still I had the motivation and energy necessary to keep plugging until mile 10. Being a good Eagle Scout, I noticed my symptoms. I was flirting with heat stroke. When you’re moving around a lot in that much heat and not sweating, it’s a bad sign. I walked virtually the entire last 2 miles and made it, but it was no fun. Our overall pace was a qualifying one for sure, but man I’m looking forward to cooler and less-humid temps Here’s the full stats: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3892595908