I don't know how people run in the heat!

I took a two-week hiatus from running. It was not intentional, but sometimes life (and laziness) gets in the way. This past Saturday morning, after 15 days off from running (but not walking and weight lifting), I got back out there. The night before, I saw that the temps were going to be in the low 70s around 8 or 9 a.m., so I figured I was good. But apparently with a 12-hour lead time, weather.com could not get the temps right. By the time Bailey and I set out for our run at around 8:40, it was nearly 80 degrees with about 75 percent humidity and a real-feel temp of 80 or 82. Yuck.

Usually when I start running, I picture myself as this in-shape, attractive, nice-bodied 30-something. I had no such illusion this time. I was miserable about 5 seconds into the hot run. Bailey was racing down our hill, and I was ready to stop. But I soldiered on. She stopped to relieve herself early on, which was somewhat welcome, and by the time we got to the big hill at the end of the first trip, she was barely moving. I actually had to kind of pull her. When we got to the top of the hill, I stopped for a few second to catch my breath. I was pleased with the 6:17 time. Probably one of my longer times, but the way I felt, I figured it would easily take me 6:30 for that .6 miles.

Running back down the hill was a kind of relief. I don't remember much about the run back home, just that I was anxious to get back and drop Bailey and her BM off. Bailey must have been anxious too; she really pushed us that last tenth of a mile; we finished that half in 6:02.

Once I de-leashed her, I gulped some water, wiped the sweat from my forehead, and tried to apply a little more sunblock to myself, which was pretty pointless as sweaty as I was. After that several-minute reprieve, I got back out there and did the same run again. Nor surprisingly, the second revolution was worse. I ran 6:25 the the first half and an awful 6:53 the second half, but considering I had taken two weeks off and that it was hot and humid, I was perfectly happy with those times. I finished the run with another approximately .6 miles; I did that in just over 7 minutes and on mostly flat surfaces, so it was probably a little further. But even if not, I will take the 3-mile run in about 36 minutes.

I find it unlikely I will run again this week; maybe I will just go back to running weekly. I have been walking Bailey daily for about 1.2 miles. Plus I walk several days a week at work. And I have been keeping up with weight lifting.

I need to do better with eating, but I will take the victories where I can get them and just be glad these legs still move!

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.

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.

Zumba!

I had slight intentions of running yesterday, but I have been so busy with Christmas shopping and wrapping that I could not get to school early enough to do so. Instead, I decided to take the Zumba class that one of the school parents has been teaching once a week for the past two months. My kid has taken the class three or four times, and I have watched each time, thinking my hips just don't move that way not to mention there is no way I could stay on beat. And clearly the apple does not fall from the tree, although it has been entertaining to watch the kid!

But having now done Zumba, which I am fairly certain was my first group exercise class since three days before I delivered the kid over eight years ago, I can say it was not so bad. Exertion-wise, I kept up with it, which did not surprise me since I am pretty active. I certainly was sweating, though no more than I do when I run. And was out of breath a few times as well, but probably less so than when I run.

I definitely struggled with a few of the moves. The instructor faces us, rather than having us watch her back, which I much prefer. I just can't seem to do that mirror image thing, and as a result, more often than not, I was going in the opposite direction of everyone else. But I kept moving, I definitely was shaking, and I think I will do it again. Fortunately, the class is on hiatus until after the holidays, so perhaps I can practice some hip shaking in the meantime.

That was pretty productive.

This morning after I dropped the kid off at school, I decided to go swimming. As I have probably mentioned before, the laps I do at the pool are between time spent playing with the kid at the pool. Typically I swim about 10 laps before taking a break to splash around. Some days, I may only manage six or eight before I am summoned to "play with me."

This morning, I decided I would swim at least 30 laps before calling it a morning. My last two times at the pool, I swam 20 and 25 laps respectively, so I figured I, being alone, should be able to surpass that.

I ended up swimming 45 laps, so yeah me! Most laps were at a medium speed, and some were even slow. I ended up doing only about a half dozen fast laps. As I have stated on this blog before, I could probably swim way more laps than what I normally do, so long as I go slowly; I have a lot of endurance.

When I finished lap #45, in about 55 minutes, I decided to run around the pool for 15 minutes. Before I started my swim, I considered going running this afternoon. But once I hit 40 laps, I figured it might be best to skip the run. Jogging back and forth the length of the pool is so much easier than pounding the pavement, and it still counts!

Since I was feeling pretty good, I spent the last under-10 minutes doing some walking lunges, split squats, regular squats, and push ups. All in all, it was a good workout.

But if I expect to run in the Race for Pace, which is two and a half weeks away, I better get myself motivated to run soon.

Why hello, old friend Steps

The weather has been so bizarre lately, particularly in the past week or so. In the course of an hour, one might see rain, snow, hail, sun, clouds. Today, the temps were around 70 glorious degrees, and the day started off rather sunny. Unfortunately, just before I headed to school to pick up my kid, the sky turned gray. Not wanting to waste a warm day but fearful of getting caught in the rain, I decided to run the steps. I figured if the rain came, I would be only a few-minute walk to my car, and if I got too tired, I could stop, again, just a short distant to my car.

Initially, I was planning to run up and down 10 times, figuring there was no use pushing it when my legs had not run steps in about 4.5 months. But after I got through the first 10 without any pain (at a decent, though not fast, pace), I decided 15 would not be a problem. And when I realized I had another seven or eight minutes to kill, I decided I might as well go for 20. And 20 sets I did, at 65 steps up and down, for a grand total of 2,600 steps. Whew! Or, even better, Woo(-hoo)!

I searched the blog to try to figure out how long it took me to run up and down 20 times the last time, but, alas, I came up empty. Although I feel as if I have definitely done it in less time, I am just going to have to be satisfied with my 17:30, particularly since I did it without stopping and without pain. I also did about 20 laps at the pool yesterday, so yeah, me!

Now if only I could summon some resolve to get a run in before too long.

Sucking wind (or Why I should not let so much time lapse between runs)

I last ran on Saturday the 9th, in the Race for Pace, clocking in around 27 minutes AND beating a sixth grader on the cross-country team, in case you forgot!

The weather was crappy several days last week, and the one day that it was nice, I was just not feeling it, so I walked for about 20 minutes instead. Today, however, I knew I had slacked off long enough, so I set out for my usual run.

Of course the beginning hill was awful. I was panting like a dog in the summer and cursing myself for letting nine days go by since I last ran. But I soldiered on, and even forced myself to pick up some speed as I started the final uphill near the end of the first mile. I was not about to let the half dozen guys paving the road think that I was out of shape!

I finished the first mile in just under 10 minutes, so I can't be disappointed. The second mile I ended up in about 8:15, so also a pretty good pace. I ran at a more leisurely pace for most of the third mile, speeding up for the last two minutes of my run.

All in all, despite my feeling out of shape at the beginning, I have to call it a good run. I managed to get in about three miles, in about 28 minutes. But the important thing is I actually ran.

On a funny note, as I was waiting in my car after school (about 15 minutes after I had finished my run), one of the teachers asked me if I had gone tanning, as my face looked "different." Yeah, no hiding when I exercise; even if I have stopped sweating, the red face remains for quite some time. :-)

Cleary I am not ready to Run Around the Square

After almost two weeks off, this morning I ran my new route around my neighborhood. I was pretty sure if I had a knife, I could have cut the humidity with it (it was over 90 percent), which made the run quite challenging.

When I run, I get very sweaty. On top of that, I breathe pretty heavily too. I kept thinking about those two things since I finally signed up for a 5k; can't wait for everyone to see and hear scary-looking me!

But really I am much more concerned about how I will do in the race, the Regent Run Around the Square, which is now less than two weeks away (yes, I finally signed up for a 5k!). I know I am not as prepared as I need to be. I really should be running twice a week, and today marked 13 days since my last run. I could "train" like this at 34, but at 38, I am not so sure.

After a few months of running during the school year, I decided I wanted to run a 5k in the spring, and my goal time was under 30 minutes. But since I have not been running as I had been, I think I am going to have to shoot for a more realistic 32 minutes. (Today, I finished my just over 2.6-mile run in 28 minutes exactly.) And that bums me out. I know it is just a number, and the way I felt today, my goal should probably be to finish the race without walking, but I have to aim higher.

For the record, when I ran the Run Around the Square in 2002, I finished in 28:14, and that was when I was in great shape. Yeah, I might just have to hope for 35 minutes...