A week of ups and downs

Okay, there have maybe not been ups and downs this week, but more 'up' and 'down.'  Here's the breakdown:

Up - treadmill running.  Ran 3 miles yesterday like it was nothing.  No need to walk or anything.  Sweet!  I suspect the gym temperature is more amenable than last summer.

Down - running that takes place outside. 

I decided to modify this week's schedule since I am traveling on Saturday and have to be at the airport relatively early -- too early for me to be motivated to get up and run.  So this week is 5-3-5-3x1, running from Tuesday to Friday.  Tomorrow I have to do the treadmill due to other obligations, but for 3M x 1 that won't be bad at all.  On Sunday, I have my long run, which will be in Philly and I get to run up the Rocky steps.  For real.  It pays to know runners in other cities who can let you know about the best routes!

Back to Tampa: there was some good news about the outside runs that were ick.  Both were 5 miles and both required some walking.  During the first one, I ran into Stephanie, who is famous from my previous blog because I would randomly run into her (Random Stephanie Encounter or RSE).  I'm not sure if our meeting on Tuesday constitutes random since she does live in that neighborhood and takes a walk with her baby in the mornings.  But it was relatively random.  Certainly it was not planned.  Anyway, I used my RSE to walk for a bit, then stood and talked to Stephanie and her husband.  Also, I got to see their dogs, yay!  But anyway, you might think that standing around and talking was ill-advised because it would get too hot, except that while we were standing there, it got much cloudier.  The overcast made a big difference to finish the run.  Sure, there was ominous thunder in the distance, but no bad weather while I was out.

Yesterday, for various reasons, I chose the treadmill.  In part, this was due to the fact that I had scheduled a yoga class for 11am.  The other part is that I can be lazy in the mornings.

This morning I had high hopes since the weather looked somewhat more manageable than most days.  But around the half-way point, I felt the urge to walk, then got super annoyed and tried to figure out why.  The answer came to me when I reached the water fountain at around 4.25 miles, drank about a sports bottle's worth of water, filled my bottle, and managed to finish it during the last 0.75 of my run.  In short, I don't think I'm hydrating enough.  I'm going to try and be better by drinking more water during the day and am currently having a debate with myself as to whether I should try Gatorade again.  Gatorade used to upset my stomach, but I figure if I have it on a semi-regular basis, I should be okay.  I can think this over while I'm running up the Rocky steps in Philly.