Past week

There was an impromptu trip to Chicago this past week, so I changed my running schedule.  The plan was to do the following (hills were Tuesday):

Wednesday: 5M
Thursday: off (travel day, which started stupid early)
Friday: 3M
Saturday: 3M
Sunday: 7M

This plan did not go exactly as scheduled, but the main parts of it were accomplished.

WEDNESDAY

I decided to do the 5 mile in Pittsburgh because at least I know where I am going, even if I am physically incapable of completing this distance with the hills.  And again, I was physically incapable of completing this distance.  Needed to do some walking between 3-4 miles.  This was the same trail that has proven challenging before.  Apparently, it is a 213-foot gain, and this doesn't take into consideration the up/down on the rest of the route.  I have no idea what that actually means, but I can assure you that it feels really awful.  Also, as you can see from that profile, it is pretty much a straight 213-foot gain and you run it up on the way back.  Nasty.

THURSDAY: Day off

FRIDAY

I got to run in Chicago!  By the lake!  Just like you want to!  And to get to the lake, I got to run here!

On the way to the lake.  By the river.  Could not be more perfect.

Chicago weather forecasting is distinctly Germanic in that it's not very accurate.  It was supposed to rain on Thursday, be hot on Friday, then rain on Saturday.  Instead, it was lovely all day Thursday, rained Thursday PM to Friday AM, and finally got hot.  That being said, it was a titch warmer than I would have liked on my run.  Just a slight bit.  It was in the low 70s, though, so I really can't complain.  The actual run (by the lake!) went very well, probably my best 3M so far this training session.

SATURDAY

I woke up Saturday morning and my legs were just not interested one bit in running.  Quite a bit of walking had been done the day before, plus a trip to the Art Institute (=more standing).  I decided that my legs had earned a day off, especially since more walking was going to be done.

Also, it was hot.  The morning wasn't so bad, but the afternoon was almost too much for me--it was in the high 80s and if you were to check Accuweather, I'm sure that they would claim it was in the 90s.  So I think it's better that I took a break.

SUNDAY

After last week's debacle, I really wanted to get back on track for the long run.  And I did!  I found a trail in Pittsburgh that is relatively flat called the Eliza Furnace Trail.  I drove over because it is by the river (although not as nicely as in Chicago) and requires a pretty severe slant to get there.  Finding the trail turned out to be a bit of a challenge, so I first ran around my parking lot a bit, then got on track.  Some of the trail was closed, although this didn't really affect my plan; I've never been so happy to see 'trail closed' signs as I was at the 6.5-mile mark, since that was the indication that I only had 1/2 mile left.

I wound up running along the trail, then crossing a bridge and running on the south side of Pittsburgh for a bit.  It was an incline, even though they claim that this neighborhood is the 'Southside Flats.'  I mean, I guess these are relative flats, if you compare them to the 213-foot gain on the trail in Schenley Park.  But I don't think that most people--particularly people from Florida--would consider it flat.

I realized two things during my run today:

1) I need to take my long runs more seriously.  Because I've completed these distances before, I think that I've had a 'meh, this won't be so bad' attitude.  Seven miles is still a distance to run.  So it's important to remember that these are challenging.

2) Running in the summer is just harder, no matter where you are.  I think that almost all of my runs over the past week would have been better if the temperature were slightly lower.  Of course, it's nowhere near Florida conditions, but it can still be a challenge.  This morning, Accuweather seems to think that it was between 73-83F with the RealFeel and although I think that these numbers are a bit inflated, that is still warm (humidity was in the 80% range too).  Not ideal conditions.  The magic number for ick while running is when humidity and temperature add up to 160: that is total, complete ick.  It wasn't quite that bad this morning, but it started in the 150s when I began my run.  Definitely not ideal conditions.  But the important thing is that I persevered.

Tomorrow is off, Tuesday I will do my hill training again, then it is back to Florida, where the ick shall prevail.