Not quite where I had hoped to be

I have been getting worried that my endurance is faltering because of this knee issue.

My run of 5.5 miles the other day was a hard run. Not knowing how fast I was going in the last mile, I realise that's probably why but even the first mile, of 9:30 min was tough!

And now this one last Saturday. It was another tough run. By the end of 6.2 miles, I was spent. I gave my all and it wasn't all that fast. I could blame either the long-sleeve or the 95% humidity. Or both.

Someone please remind me that if it's in the 50's to wear short sleeves. Geeze, why can't I remember that!?

No running today since I tweaked my back and my glutes are hurting.

So much for a PR in my half marathon this weekend.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 855 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: -4 ft Date: 04/24/10 Up/Downhill: [+196/-200] Time: 09:13 AM Difficulty: 2.1 / 5.0 Weather: Fog/Mist 55 F temp; 100% humidity 55 F heat index; winds E 8 Performance Distance: 6.20 miles Time: 1:00:00 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 41 /mi Calories: 664 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 22 -0' 19 6.4 +0.2 +36 ft 2 9' 39 -0' 02 6.2 +0.0 -17 ft 3 9' 51 +0' 10 6.1 -0.1 -9 ft 4 9' 58 +0' 17 6.0 -0.2 +10 ft 5 9' 58 +0' 17 6.0 -0.2 +10 ft 6 9' 30 -0' 11 6.3 +0.1 -33 ft end 9' 07 -0' 34 6.6 +0.4 0 ft Versus average of 9' 41 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 6 miles, humidity

A recovery run it was not

I ran tonight after my last Corn Fest board meeting. I knew I had to and had a little bit of time before the sun totally set. Got home and out I went. Ended up running 3.5 miles but it was not a recovery run. Just over race pace for the first 2 miles. Whoops. My legs, specifically thighs, were a bit sore from my long run. I could feel my hip starting to hurt around 2.5 miles. But I stuck it out, I slowed it down in that mile and I think it did the trick. My heart was racing near the end though. A minute or so after stopping, I checked my pulse manually and I counted around 160. Not too high but my heart rate comes down quickly.

I was also dripping sweat at the end of the run. 90% humidity and for some odd reason I wore a short sleeved shirt instead of a sleevless one. Not so sure what I was thinking there. Another odd thing is that I wore my visor. It was a sunset run so something that I really didn't need to wear but it's habit now. Plus it keeps the hair off my face. But I think it hindered me in this run. I had it up for most of the run so it was mostly off my forehead. I was DRIPPING sweat when I came inside. It was crazy; off my elbows, down my wrists, off my nose. So funny and weird!!

Also, on this run, over by the river, there was something dive bombing me. It was a bat. At first I couldn't quite tell but when it went out of the woods a little bit and the sky was behind it, I could see that it was indeed the silhoutte of a bat. Now I'm not too scared of bats. I kinda grew up with bats. They would always come down the fireplace and circle around the ceiling. My dad would come in with his net and catch it and let it go. It happened a few too many times in the 7 years we lived in that house!

So here's my bat story related to it.

A few years back, this guy I was dating and I came over to my place after a bar one night. We promptly went to bed and to sleep. Well, I didn't sleep right away. I kept hearing something. I finally rolled onto my back and looked up. I saw something flying in circles around the ceiling. After a few minutes I realised that it was pretty big. I woke up the guy, and told him to look up. He screamed, asked what it was and hid under the covers. I eventually said that we need to get out of my bedroom cause I think it's a bat. So he went running out to the living room. I went out as well but I knew I needed to capture it.

Eventually, after thinking about it for a while, I found a blanket and decided to try to throw it up in the air and knock it down. After a few tries and it landing in my window blinds, I managed to get it down and had the blanket over it. I saw it moving under the blanket. So I realised that I needed to pick it up. I grabbed a vinyl so I could slip it under the bat. It was the only thing I had. This was all done while the guy was in the living room, on the couch, not helping at all. Once I did that, I headed outside. He was nice enough to open the door for me. Keep in mind that I was in my sleep clothes of just an oversized t-shirt but this was also at 2:30am. I took it outside, down to the sidewalk and threw the blanket off of it. Then sat on the stairs and waited for it to take off.

Now this all happened within 30 mintues I guess so. It was the longest to figure out how to knock it down out of the air and actually doing so. I still don't know how the bat got inside. I would have felt it if it was on me or seen it if it was on him. What I just find most funny out of all of this is that I was doing all the work while the guy took off for the hills. I was remembering this story on the run today and just started giggling to myself.

And wow, that map is WAAAAAY off scale!! Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 858 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 08/17/09 Up/Downhill: [+167/-167] Time: 07:38 PM Difficulty: 1.8 / 5.0 Weather: Overcast 72 F temp; 87% humidity 72 F heat index; winds S 5 Performance Distance: 3.51 miles Time: 0:32:27 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 15 /mi Calories: 373 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 05 -0' 10 6.6 +0.1 +23 ft 2 9' 09 -0' 06 6.5 +0.1 -13 ft 3 9' 33 +0' 18 6.3 -0.2 +17 ft end 9' 08 -0' 07 6.6 +0.1 -26 ft Versus average of 9' 15 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: bats, DeKalb Nature Trail, humidity

Humidity can suck it!

I had Friday off of work so I headed to southern Illinois on Thursday evening. It was hot and muggy the entire drive down. I decided to attempt my run of 8 miles on Friday instead of Saturday, since I had plans to go to STL on Saturday.

My mom kept telling me not to go because she was afraid I was going to get heat exhaustion. I told her that I know the signs and I'm gonna stay close to home and have a bottle of water with me. I wasn't too worried. May plan was to be on the road by 6:30a.

It was still hot and humid when I woke up at 6a. By the time I got ready to go out at 6:50a, it was 78 degrees and 96% humidity. Yep. And I ran. I didn't get the 8 miles in, only 5.6. I started to get chills and hallucinating so I called it quits. My route called for me to go out into the country. I knew that there would be no shade so I stayed in "town" and when I stopped under a tree shadow, I could feel the humidity oppressing down on me! When it feels better to keep moving, than stand still in a shadow, you know it's bad.

Here's a video to sum up my run.


Find more videos like this on RuncastTV

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 519 ft Location: Bluford, IL Elev. Gain: +3 ft Date: 06/19/09 Up/Downhill: [+239/-236] Time: 06:56 AM Difficulty: 3.2 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 81 F temp; 76% humidity 86 F heat index; winds S 7 Performance Distance: 5.60 miles Time: 0:55:57 Speed: 6.0 mph Pace: 9' 59 /mi Heart Rate: 175 bpm (Avg) Calories: 598 193 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 24 -0' 35 6.4 +0.4 158 -13 ft 2 9' 44 -0' 15 6.2 +0.1 173 0 ft 3 9' 48 -0' 11 6.1 +0.1 183 +4 ft 4 11' 29 +1' 30 5.2 -0.8 177 0 ft 5 10' 58 +0' 59 5.5 -0.5 181 +7 ft end 12' 08 +2' 09 4.9 -1.1 182 +6 ft Versus average of 9' 59 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: Bluford, heat, humidity, video

7 mile run

From my LJ blog...

I am from northern Illinois, not really known for the humidity but there can be some hanging around sometimes but luckily, this summer has been relatively quiet so I haven't had to deal with it too much. I am currently in the St. Louis 'burbs visting my boyfriend. I knew I needed to do a 7 mile run today as I'm in week 6 of my marathon training. Last week, I told my boyfriend to go to Queeny Park, about a 15 minute drive from his place and check out the paths in the park.

I got up at 6am, wanting to hit the road on my feet by 7:15a at the latest. I already knew it was going to be a humid day. 72% humidity last night at 10pm! Stupid boyfriend didn't wake up and get out of bed until 7:15a. He was going to be beside me on the bike. He drove me over to Queeny Park and I got on the road at 7:45a. Grrr. Off we went.

There are plenty of hills in that park. I only went walking in there once and there's one big hill near the AKC Dog Museum and it's a monster! I ran up one hill near the 2 mile mark and that wasn't too bad but it was also near the beginning of my run. Then luckily, I ran DOWN the monster hill. I put on the brakes big time. I ran past a lady in the skirt and I was also wearing a skirt, I said "Nice skirt!" with a smile on my face. She took offense to that, my boyfriend said, and she kept pulling it down. Geez...

Then it was sun time, I was out of the shaded forest. I was feeling bad, my run was going so slow by this time and I hadn't even reached the 5k mark yet! Got there in 32 minutes (though my Nike+ is a bit off but I'm sure it was over 30 minutes time anyway. My boyfriend was helping me by encourging me to get going and up and over these tiny hills and telling me where to go; I told him, you lead, I follow. I just didn't want to think about where to go at that point.

Around mile 6, I ran up the same hill that I ran up around mile 2. This time though, I was crying up. I wanted to walk so bad, my legs were heavy limbs that I just couldn't drag up the hill. I was literally crying and with my crying jag I couldn't breathe. It was HORRIBLE. My boyfriend talked me through it though and he was on his bike and I could hear that he was having a hard time talking to me and biking up it himself. Back down the monster hill. More brakes.

Finally, the end is in sight!

Since I knew my Nike+ is off a bit, I decided to go 7.2 miles. I told my boyfriend, .2 left to go. He said just aim for the light post. So I started trucking it. I made it! 1:16:33. Then I realised that on my 3.1 mile run on Thursday, I completed my normal 3.1 route before Nike+ said I did. So then I would have completed my 7 miles around 6.8 or so. So I stupidly ran FARTHER than I should have gone! Like I said, I wasn't thinking right by that time. I could hardly figure out what milage was left when I saw 6.69! I just couldn't do the math! :-)

Needless to say, we came back to boyfriends apartment complex and I jumped in the pool. HAHA! It was cold but oh so refreshing! I needed it for my ankles and my poor poor hamstrings and quads. I used to hate cold water baths but now I'm all about them! They make me not hurt the next day! Stupid hills.

So while it may have sucked and while I did have a total breakdown (which I feel more letdown on that then on the time of the 7 miles) on the last hill, I did manage to run 7 miles. This Saturday is running 12 miles. I'll be doing it alone. No boyfriend (to delay my start OR to help me through the rough times). And I'm still doing it in southern Illinois, just over by Carbondale this time. Hopefully, it'll cool off a bit by then.

Categories: 7 miles, Ballwin, Brent, hills, humidity