I worried about the heat. I worried about last weeks horrible run. I worried so much that I almost DID NOT run today.
I made sure I filled a 20oz and a 10oz bottle of water, dressed in a sleeveless running shirt, got my hat and sun glasses as I’d be running into the sun, and prepared for the first run in the heat- it’s been a while.
I decided to run without my iPod and just be ‘one with the run’ so-to-speak.
Shoe of choice: my new Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7 with only 8 miles on them.
It started with a kiss goodbye (which could have led to more), a deep breath and I was off and running…
Goal: a 1 hr 10K pace.
A mile in and I was feeling good. Two miles in I was feeling great. Three miles in and I decided to do seven plus!
It wasn’t as hot as I thought it was going to be. I didn’t reach for my water as much as I normally would do on a hot day. And after two miles I realized running on a treadmill really sucks!!!
I made my turnaround at the 5K mark and headed home, and every time I felt I was at an RPE of 7 out of 10, I pulled back. The run was around a 6 on the RPE scale of 1 to 10. (I know RPE is 1-20 but I use 1-10).
The dreaded hill at mile five was approached with ChiRunning lateral turn your hips and side step method… IT WORKED LIKE A CHARM! The struggle wasn’t much of a struggle, the pain wasn’t painful, and the hill wasn’t much of a hill!
I practiced ChiRunning throughout the run (when I remembered) as I try to make it a habit instead of practice…
So anyway, I was faster than ½ marathon pace, and slower than 10K pace but right on pace for my 1hr 10K goal!
Well, I missed it by about 20 seconds. And because of the course I chose I knew I’d have some extra distance to run and that’s what I did. I ran right through the 10K mark, hit the 7 mile mark and ran through it for another quarter mile then walked the short distance home for a cool down.
SO… Great run! I was dreading the CA sun today and it wasn’t so mean to me!
My last three runs were on a treadmill at the Hilton fitness center. I swear those treadmills were harder than the 24hr Fitness treadmills… and I hated the runs. They were all a struggle – even my 1.5 mile run with a headache was hard and it wasn’t because of the headache! It was the damn treadmill.
It was SOOOO good to be running in the outdoors.
Splits with HR averages:
MILE SPLIT Avg
Mile 1 0:09:23 / 167
Mile 2 0:09:33 / 180
Mile 3 0:09:19 / 186
Mile 4 0:09:48 / 188
Mile 5 0:10:01 / 187
Mile 6 0:10:43 / 189
Mile 7 0:09:49 / 187
Mile 7.35 0:04:19 / 180
TOTAL: 1:12:55 / 183 bpm
Normally I’d be peaking in the high 190s on a hot day with a hard run. But I was right on average for the run. I was very disciplined in this run and it felt good. My max was 192 which is probably where I was trying to give a little extra at the end of mile 6.
Today… a 5K run on a treadmill (yuck) after a swim followed by a core workout.