Back in the game

After many months, I finally got in a good run. 

Since the winter, I had stopped running. Over the past couple of months, however, I would run for a couple of minutes at a time once or twice during my walks with Bailey. Most days I just fast-walked with Bailey. But on days I had extra energy or when it seemed like Bailey just wanted to run, I figured I might as well move a little. Fortunately, it was enough to keep me in decent running shape.

The temps and the humidity had gotten high the last week. Finally, this afternoon, a storm came through, and the temps went down in the lower 70s. It was great. So off B and I went. It was uneventful. We stopped briefly twice so she could do her business. We did 2 miles (our long weekend route). And then I dropped her off and ran one more mile. I felt pretty good, other than a little bit of ankle pain, which I had been having during some walks.

With summer upon us, I doubt I will go back to regular running, but it's good to know I can still do it, especially after a 2.5 mile walk this morning. 

Too much time in between runs

Somehow I thought I ran last weekend. I honestly can't recall. But I did run yesterday, and it was tough!

I felt so completely out of shape. I actually ended up doing the first half in about 5:48 (I think!) and then the second half was 6:12 (I might have the numbers reversed). After that, I tacked on another 10 minutes among my street, the field at the end of the street, and the lot at the end of the field, so I probably ran a little more than 2 miles.But it was a struggle to get there.

In the past couple of weeks, because I have slacked off in running, I would sometimes run for a couple minutes at a time during my evening Bailey walks. I probably did this 3-5 times per week. Some days I would manage only one 2-minute fun. During other walks, I would run a few times, anywhere from 1-3 minutes. Unfortunately, I tended not to stretch after those walks, which resulted in soreness the following days.

I think I am giving up the twice-weekly runs; considering I can't seem to run every week, I have to be realistic. And, if I can continue to get in a few bursts of running during some of my Bailey walks each week, I think it will all balance out.

I will say that running in the heat yesterday morning (it was about 74, but the sun was strong) and then later walking around Phipps, and finally helping the hubby cook on the grill and in front of a hot stove resulted in too much time in the heat/sun. It really affected me. I was kind of dizzy/light-headed for most of the evening. I ended up not even going to work today, as I was just not feeling myself. Mostly I was feeling old. :-(

Until next time...

Slacking a bit

Since I last blogged, I have not been as physically active as I had hoped. I did Zumba on Thursday. I pretty much just sweated for hours on Friday, thanks to the oppressive heat and humidity. Saturday, I swam, though I don't recall how many laps. Sunday I did very little, other than running some errands. Monday was a bit fat nothing (besides lunch duty). Tuesday was Zumba, and yesterday was swimming. Only three laps but much treading water and moving.

I have been so busy lately that I have not had as much time to workout. Today was the first day I had almost five hours to myself. I really should have gone back to the pool or went running, but I was just so happy to have no meetings, appointments, volunteer work, or errands, plus I am down on sleep so feeling lazy (which is a great reason to exercise, I know!). Unfortunately, I have to pick my kid up from school early before taking my dad to a doc's appointment, so I won't be able to run (i.e., get sweaty). Tomorrow, if all goes well, I should be able to run after lunch duty and before I go swimming. I vow to at least get some steps in.

After all, I have lots of eating to make up for.

Oh, and a little part of me wants to run in the Race for Pace in four weeks. Not sure if that will happen, though.

Continuing to blame it on the heat

This afternoon, I finally tackled my "usual" two-mile round trip school run. I had well over an hour to get it in, so I figured even if I had to crawl the last mile, I should be able to make it back in time for pickup.

Most of the run was without pain, so there is that. I do recall feeling some ankle pain (I forget which foot) early on, but it subsided quickly. Or, the constant panting took over, "drowning" out any other suffering.

The temps were around 80-couple degrees, but, once again, the humidity was pretty high, or so it felt to me. But I was determined not to let the heat, my age, and my inconsistent/rare running keep me from doing what I set out to do. Part of me really wanted to get a longer run in since I had the time, but wanting to know where I stood time-wise for my usual run won out.

Here are the stats:

Mile 1: 10:43
Mile 2: 9:00

Looking back at previous posts, this is definitely one of my worst runs, and I fought to get the first mile under 11 minutes! But between the heat and my running so little this year (probably six to eight times the first eight months of the year), I won't beat myself up about it too much. Besides, once I got my almost 20 minutes in, I jogged around the outside of the gym and up the outside steps over a half dozen times, for about eight or nine minutes. On top of that, my heart rate gets up pretty high when I am running uphill or up steps (between 160 and 180 bpm), which I know is not good, so I feel a little limited.

I also swam about 25 laps on Sunday and 30 laps yesterday, with some pool jogging and leg and arm work thrown in for good measure. If I can round the week out with Zumba and another swim, then yee-haw for me!

Nothing like running steps in 90-degree weather

In addition to running about 1.5 miles this week (along with a Zumba class and two days of swimming), I also ran up the 65-ish fun-filled steps 10 times. Several people told me I was nuts as it was 90 degrees. And I did not disagree with them. But I guess I felt as if I had something to prove to myself.

I kept the pace rather slow as I was sweating (so much for clothes that wick away perspiration) and struggling. In the end, I finished in 8:55, which I was happy with considering the temps. When I was finished and had a few minutes to catch my breath, I decided to run around the gym and up those steps four times. To me, exercising for only nine minutes hardly "counts." That too was no easy task considering the heat, but I was happy to get another five minutes of movement.

I wish I could be happy with walking as it is probably not a good idea to get my 40-year-old heart up to 180 bpm, but it seems so inefficient and boring. However, if the heat continues (and I don't think it will), then I may have to slow down the pace.

Stay tuned.

Way out of running shape

Despite my rare appearance on this blog, I have been exercising. I managed to do Zumba once a week during August (including one week with two classes) as well as swim two to three times per week all month long. Unfortunately, I had not gone running since the beginning of July. That is until last week.

Now that school is back in session, and I have had time to kill between lunch duty and pick up, I figured I had no excuse not to lace up the running shoes. So this past Tuesday, I finally got back out there. It started off okay, though I felt warm almost right away. I don't recall feeling too much, if any, pain, but realizing I was struggling mightily, I decided to run only to the stop sign just before the final (big) hill during the last couple tenths of the first mile. I could not risk running out of gas and then leaving my kid stranded in the parking lot on the first full day of school.

When I finished my run, I was convinced it had to be about 90 degrees. Turns out it was only 81, but the humidity was definitely high. Between the heat and my not-in-running-shape body, it took me probably 10 minutes to stop panting. At least two parents in the lot after commenting on how I seemed to be struggling while running (they drove past me), and I told them they were not wrong, but I considered it a victory that I was still walking. I cannot recall how long it took me to run that approximately 1.5-mile route, but it was irrelevant. Since I had not run that route since March, I am not overly disappointed. Hopefully before too long I can get the two miles in.

No, weather people, it does NOT feel like 73 degrees!

My second run in as many weeks. Look at me go!

When I went to bed last night, amidst the windy, stormy weather, I was convinced my morning run would be in 70-degree and low humidity weather. I figured I would take the same route as last week, and see if my time had improved. But when I started my run around 9:50 a.m., the temps felt about 80 degrees and the sun was blazing, I was pretty sure that was not happening.

When I was halfway through my water bottle and only 1/3 of the way through my run, I, once again, considered cutting in short. But I decided even if I could not beat last week's time, I could at least come close to it. So I soldiered on.

Because of the sun, heat and humidity (I cannot believe it was only 73 degrees, but I can believe the humidity was 100 percent), I hardly noticed any pains. I was, however, cursing the sweat that kept running down my face. The ponytail holder kept my hair off my face and neck, but what I was really missing was a hairband to  keep the sweat on my brow. Oh, well.

When it was all said and done and my lukewarm water was down to its last few rationed drops, I ended up coming in at 29:16. I have no idea how I bested my time from last week by almost two minutes. And I really felt it at the end (as did my rapidly beating heart which took quite a few minutes to slow down). But I did it.

Not sure when I will get my next run in (just last week I said it would probably take me a month or two), but if I can keep up with swimming and/or Zumba a couple times a week, hopefully I can stay in decent shape.

At least it was the OTHER side of my chest that hurt

I ran steps on Tuesday, as I just blogged about. That was due mostly to weather, but partly to just how darn hard running has become for me lately. Since my stepping on Tuesday was pretty challenging, I figured I might as well just go for broke and get out there and run today.

So I did.

And, much like my 20 trips up and down the steps, this run was no walk in the park. As I struggled up the first killer hill (which, to be fair, I probably do 98 percent of the time), my thoughts alternated between a disappointing, "Am I just too old for this" and a sad/angry, "But some people in their 50s and 60s run almost every day."

I will be 40 in two and a half months. I really wanted to leap into 40 and be able to say that I was in great shape. That age was irrelevant. That I could run circle around people half my age. But lately those thoughts are fading. Sigh.

Anyway, I got through the run with the typical shoe annoyance. (I really think I am going to have to give up on these stupid Asics.) I felt chest pains, fortunately on the side opposite my heart for no more than a couple minutes. My side stitches lasted probably for about five to seven minutes, so, hey, not even a mile. I did not drop over, despite my labored breathing. And, to be fair, the temps had to be near 80, and it was fairly humid.

Mile one: 10:29
Mile two: 8:50

Sure, I wonder if my first mile will ever get below 10 minutes. Or, for that matter, will it ever get close to 10 minutes! But I am still standing, so let's just go with calling it a successful run. :-)

Sometimes I forget I am not in my 20s anymore

Considering I have not managed a single run in the Burgh since May, my blog title clearly is not applicable this summer. But the good news is I did run this morning, once again in Indiana County.

Because it is hot and humid, I decided before even I began my run that I was going to keep my run at 20 minutes. When I first started out, it was a little over 70 degrees, but I could feel the humidity, not to mention there was a lot of haze in the sky. I kept a reasonable pace for most of the run, and it went okay. Very little pain, which was surprising considering my right calf has been hurting since yesterday morning (and still hurts now, hours later). Of course, the hills were not easy, but when are they ever. Near the end, when I had been running about 25 minutes, I checked my heart rate.

I have not thought about what my heart rate should be for years, although I do try to check it after most runs. For some reason, I thought that if it was around 180 bpm when I was finishing the strongest/fastest part of my run, then I was doing something right.

Recently, however, I came across an article that talked about heart rate. According to this source, you should ideally work at no more than 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. To determine this:

220 - Age (39) = 181 (maximum heart rate)

85 percent of 181 = 153.85 bpm

I did a quick search on the internet and found a handful of articles with heart rate calculation tools. According to those tools, when working out, my heart rate should be anywhere from 91 to 163 bpm, which is quite the range (the higher your fitness level, the higher your heart rate can go). Unfortunately, nowhere did I read that I should be working out at my maximum heart rate, which I come close to sometimes. In fact, today, when I had just finished the end of my run, my heart rate was around 175. Oops.

I need to do some more research to figure out if I am putting myself at risk for a heart attack or something. When I run slowly, I feel pretty good and have the energy to keep going, so it makes me think that I should run harder and faster, to tax myself. The same is true when I swim. And, as I have stated here many times, I have been swimming on average three days per week for the past few months. This past week, I managed four days of swimming, and one of those days I swam 30 laps. I feel good when I exercise and I think I am in pretty good shape. Let's hope that is true.

C'mon heart!

Might as well get used to this humidity now [hurl]

Yesterday the humidity was about 90 percent, temps were in the low 80s, and the sky was mostly sunny. I figured running steps was a more sensible choice because if I became too hot/uncomfortable halfway through my run, I would still have to make it back. If I ran steps, I could stop as soon as it became too much, and then walk the short distance to my car.

Compared to my running steps over a month ago, this time was pretty hard, because of that darned heat/humidity. I originally decided to run up and down 10 times, but by taking a 20- to 30-second water break after every five sets, I was able to run up and down 20 times. I was surprised I completed that workout in just over 18 minutes (not counting the breaks); compared to last time, it seemed as if I was running so much more slowly.

Had I not caught my breath and hydrated those few times, I am sure I would have stopped after 15 trips, maybe fewer. At one point, I actually felt a little sick. This is where a smart person would have stopped, but I just kept going, convinced that if I slowed down a bit and drank some water, I would be okay. I also reasoned that it is the middle of May, and it is only going to get hotter and more humid, so if I could not handle it now, how could I exercise this summer?

Fortunately, I did not get sick, and the feeling subsided about 10 minutes after I finished. I ended up going swimming an hour later. I took it easy, doing only about six to eight not-fast laps, but trying to keep moving for most of the hour of the pool (I swam 25 laps on Wednesday, FYI). I am definitely going to take it easy today!

Oh, I got there!

Thanks to a late start, I had barely over 20 minutes to get in my run on Monday. So while doing my two-minute warm-up walk, I debated if I should try running the two miles, since that would not leave me much time after to stretch. Once I started running up the killer hill, however, I decided to really push myself, figuring if I was ever going to do that first, tough mile in under 10 minutes, this would be a good time to try.

I was panting pretty hard during this mile (though to be fair, the long, black yoga pants I wore on this warm sunny afternoon did not help), hard enough that I was thinking I had a pretty good chance of reaching the top of the hill before the stopwatch (i.e., my phone)  reached 10 minutes. As I hit the top of the hill, I thought I pressed the "lap" button on my stopwatch. But when I looked at it as I started down the hill, I realized I must not have. So even though the time read 9:55, I might have actually finished that first mile in about 9:53 or maybe even 9:50.

Woo-hoo!

But I don't plan on doing that too often...

A 7 a.m. run

For the first time in about forever, I ran at just after 7 a.m. I was playing airport taxi this morning, and I could not see myself going back to bed at around 7 a.m. when I got home. Plus, most importantly, I was way overdue for a run.

I ran the same route I did almost three weeks, but it went decidedly better this time. I finished the about 2.6 mile run in just under 28 minutes, which was a little faster than I did last time, and I felt better overall. In fact, I started out at pretty nice pace, unlike how I ran right out of the gate last time. And I did not have to walk at the end, even though I was hating that uphill ending. It was also less humid, and it was probably just under 70 degrees, which are pretty good conditions for a late July run.

I still am unsure when I will run that elusive 5k. I have a couple in mind, one in August and one in September, but I am not sure that I have trained enough for either. But if I can step it up a bit, I may be okay.

The first couple minutes are the most difficult

For the first time since probably 2002, I ran around my neighborhood, which is actually hillier than my normal route near my kid's school. Unlike that route, this run started off pretty flat. And, yet, from the get-go, I still felt as if I was not going to be able to run more than a few minutes.

I blame the heat, mostly. It was a hot 75 degrees at just after 10 this morning. Although it did not feel super humid, the sun was beating down. But I think age has something to do with the challenge. When I was training to run the Steelers 5k in 2006, I ran once a week for about six weeks. That was all I needed to do, at age 34 1/2, to get ready for that race. I don't recall feeling a drop off from week to week, and I did just fine in that race, finishing in just under 30 minutes.

But now that I am four years older, each run seems a little challenging. To be fair, I did not run at all last week, so I probably lost a little fitness. Although the bench stepping was quite difficult and a pretty good workout, it was not the same as running for at least 30 minutes non stop up and down hills.

To my credit, I do keep going. Since I started running again about 10 months ago, I have never stopped, at least not that I recall, without running at least two miles. Today, I ended up stopping at probably a little more than that, because the hill was just too much for me. So twice up that hill, I walked for at least 30 seconds. Sometime this week, I will drive the route I ran to see how much distance I covered. I am guessing about 2.5 miles. Since it took me almost 30 minutes, I will be pretty disappointed if it is not at least that, though I do have to consider the minute-plus of walking plus bigger, longer hills.

I guess I just need to keep at it.

Maybe it takes weeks.

After yesterday's lackluster run, thanks to the weather, I decided to run up (and jog down) the 65 steps between the upper and lower parking lots near the school. And just like yesterday, it was tough from the get-go.

I decided to run up 10 times before stopping for about 10 or 15 seconds to suck down some water. I made 5 more trips before another brief water break, and then watered myself again after 4 more runs. I managed to run my last set of steps at a pretty good speed, though I was hurting, so incredibly hot. I was partly buoyed by the older gentleman I passed on trip number 19 who said, "That is great for your leg muscles." To which I replied, "Not so much if I have a heart attack."

Afterwards, I walked around for about four or five minutes, as I typically do to cool down after a run. But for the first time in a long time, my legs were actually shaking. Not sure if it was because I really pushed myself, because the heat and humidity were high again, or a combination. I just know it was not a good feeling, and over an hour later, while at the park, I felt kind of crappy.

As I said yesterday, I have no idea how people who live in high humidity/temp areas run outside. I just know my body is pretty far from adjusting.

Worst. Run. Ever.

Okay, I have certainly had a lot less successful runs, but today's run, in 80-degree temps and high humidity, was surely the most challenging and unpleasant one I had since I started running again this past fall. I considered walking after a mile, but forced myself to get in just over two miles, as much as it pained me. I started panting about 10 seconds into the run (up the hill, of course) and did not stop my labored breathing until the bitter end.

I ran only one day last week, on Monday, so I am sure the eight-day hiatus from strenuous exercise did not help. But regardless, I just could not help wondering how people in the South, particularly in areas with high humidity, run outside. I felt ill for most of the run, almost as if I were going to be sick.

Because I am disappointed with my results today, I am going to try again tomorrow, breaking my rule of not running on consecutive days. But considering tomorrow is going to be a little hotter than today, I might just end up struggling through running the steps a bunch of times. I really don't want to feel that awful feeling two days in a row.

Is it too much to have July weather in July only?!

Day 2 of new shoes

I took the new shoes for a spin last Thursday. The first few strides were like walking on clouds. Ah. So amazing that I am pretty sure I was actually smiling up the hill. Unfortunately, the next gazillion steps I took were rather painful. In retrospect, I probably should not have done a three-mile run my first time out in new shoes. But looking on the bright side, the pain in my feet pretty much eclipsed the usual pain in my knees, so there is that!

Fortunately, today's run was better. My feet hardly hurt at all, and my knees were relatively pain-free. Of course, I was more focused on my usual struggles on the hills and the sun beating down my face. But I did manage another three-mile run, so yeah me!

I really need to run a 5k soon. I am quite sure I won't be able to handle the summer heat, so my running days are probably numbered. Plus, I am such a creature of habit that I don't know if I will be able to run anywhere else other than the streets by my kid's school, which will be letting out for the year in exactly one month.

Better get moving.

Not a fan of July in April

Because more than a week had gone by since my last run (thanks to my kid being off school), and because I have been eating a plethora of Easter candy the past few days, I knew I had to brave the 83-degree heat yesterday and get out and run.

It was most difficult. I pretty much panted the entire time. I managed to run my first mile in just a little more than my usual time (which is around 10:30), which made me pretty happy. But the second, normally easy, mile was anything but. I was so whopped by the heat, I struggled to complete the mile in just over 9 minutes. I was so glad when that run was done, I was practically singing. Or I would have been had I had much breath left.

The good thing is thanks to the heat, I did not notice the pain in my knee. Helps to look on the bright side.

I am definitely looking forward to cooling temps. I will take 30 degrees over 80, at least when it comes to running, any day.