Running with Nuns

Last week, I did the Ringling Bridge Run.  The weather was great (in the 40s!) and during the flat parts, I ran pretty well.  I did not do so well on the bridge/hilly parts, which was kind of annoying.  While I was on the last part of the uphill, I was reminded that probably I could have done very well if I had done this race right after being in Australia.  Ah well.

Today was the Run with the Nuns.  This race did not go so well.  Now, as runners know, one of the annoying things about running is that you can be fine one day and not so fine the next, and often you don't know why.  I think that today's not-so-hot race can be traced to a few reasons and I wanted to share those with you in case you are trying to solve that eternal mystery of 'why did I not run faster':

1) I dressed for the start instead of the finish (and not even that): you should always dress for the temperature at the end of your race and not at the start.  This is especially important in places like Florida where the temperature can increase dramatically from start to finish.  Trust me, you won't be cold for long because barring truly cold conditions, once you get going, you will warm up.  I dressed for it to be in the mid-50s, which it was at the start.  Somehow, I missed the fact that it was humid....will I ever learn?!?  It was 57F with 93% humidity this morning--so close to the threshold of ick (only 10 units less, in fact).  I think that I was fooled because last week's race was far nicer.  However, it was also an hour earlier to start, which would have helped.

2) I did not sleep enough last night: stupid Stephen King.  This is what I get for starting Cujo the night before (and I couldn't finish it the night before because I had to get up for work).  Now from what I understand, one night of insufficient sleep isn't a disaster.  But I think that generally I did not get enough sleep over the past week.  So that was my bad.

3) Crossfit yesterday was nuts:  here is the description of the workout:

Teams of 4:
Run 400m (2-25#)
400 Deadlifts (135/95#)
Run 400m
400 Weighted Sit-ups (25#)
Run 400m
400 Jumping Lunges
Run 400m
FOR TIME
Teams must carry 2- 25 pound plates throughout the workout. If plate touches the ground, the entire team must complete 10 burpees at the time of the penalty (during the runs, the plate must be kept above the waist. During the exercises, the plate must be kept above the shoulders)

I almost quit during the second 'run 400m.'  Seriously.  It was one of the hardest workouts I have ever experienced in my entire life (if you're curious, I did not contribute fully, which is to say that I did closer to 50 deadlifts instead of 100.  You know what?  50 is still a lot).  And I was not exactly nimble this morning. So I don't think that this helped the race.  But it will help in the long run, as I'm pretty sure that it was Crossfit that helped me get my PR on the marathon.  Lost the battle to win the war, in other words.

However, it doesn't really matter why I didn't do so well because here is the t-shirt:

That is precisely the type of t-shirt I was hoping for when I signed up for this event.  Mission accomplished.

So much for that

I have to say that at the start of my run today, I was feeling kind of excited that the relatively good conditions from Sunday were still around.  It didn't feel horribly hot.  It didn't feel horribly humid.  And indeed, it was not as horrible as it could have been.  But that does not mean that it was great.

The humidity was bumped up a bit, as was the temperature, and the dew point was over 70 (okay, not by much, but not as nice as the 68 on Sunday...although now that I am looking at the conditions, they got steadily ickier as I went on, which would match my experience of that run).  According to Weather Underground, when I started today the heat index was still in the 91F range.  Yikes.  I was hoping that it had dropped (and Accuweather seemed to think that it had dropped).

[As an aside, I just checked what the conditions were on Saturday during the 5k.  100% humidity.  The whole time.  Yeesh.]

Oh well.  All things considered, it could have been worse.  Sure, the run necessitated much more walking that I would have liked, but that's okay.  Probably if I could just convince myself to start much slower, I wouldn't have to walk so much.  That argument with self isn't going so well, though.  If the weather would convince itself to be more temperate, I might be doing better too.

Today was 5 miles with some hills (it was supposed to be around 4 minutes' worth of hills, but I think I did more).  I will say that I did well on the hilly parts.  Now if I can just get the 'continuous running' parts down, I will be in business.

Beach to Beacon 10k: recap

I had hoped to PR this race.  I came nowhere close to PRing this race.  If there is an anti-PR, I almost did that (it was almost as slow as my very first 10k ever!  Maybe slower.  For real).  However, I had also not anticipated that it would be in the 70s with 80% humidity and 2 miles in the bright Maine sun to start.

I began too fast.  Probably I should have slowed down.  However, running at what I was hoping would be my race pace was so easy at first.  It felt kind of like when I PRed on the half-marathon.  So I suspect that I had it in me to make my goal, except that the situation made it impossible.

Here is where you end:

Even better, you don't need to run up the hill at the end!


The course was great (a little hilly, but not horrible).  The support was great.  There were tons of water stops and even ample portapotties at various points.  The t-shirt is great (real wicking fabric!).  Even the running expo was great (2 shirts and 2 bottoms for $33 total).  The people along the route were great, particularly whoever was playing 'I like to move it' around mile 3.  The only complain was the weather, and obviously no one could do anything about that!

I was asked by two EMTs if I was okay.  That is always my acid test for whether I did my best on hot and humid days.

My one piece of advice: if you are doing this run, park at the South Portland locations if that is viable.  They had by far the shortest line for the shuttle bus and it was really easy to get back on 77.  Definitely the best choice I made all day!

Somewhat back on track

I would say that I am, at long last, somewhat back on track.  Why somewhat?  Because my nose is still giving me attitude while running.  But overall, I am as close to healthy as I have been in a month.  Hurray!

On Sunday, I decided that I might as well attempt to do my long run because if I didn't, I would feel concerned and worried for the next half-marathon.  This was after not having done a lot of running due to colds and finally a sinus infection.  Because I was somewhat out of practice and still somewhat suffering from the sinus infection, I opted to take a walk/run approach right from the start (0.54 miles running, followed by 0.06 walking).  It worked relatively well.  I also decided to finally face my fears and tackle the Clearwater Causeway.  That went less well.  Meh.  I am not trained for hills!

The only annoying thing was that my nose was very, very runny throughout the entire 12-mile run.  This I could have done without.  But I did not feel even remotely as awful as I did during the last half-marathon, which I believe means that I have made progress.  Also, I was extremely happy that I even made it through the run, since I had some serious concerns if I was still capable of doing a long distance.

Now we are onto tapering and for the first time in a long time (at least for the past three taper times), I can actually run during taper period.  So far, I am not sick....fingers crossed and knocking on wood!  Today I decided to do a four-mile jaunt around the neighborhood.  It's kind of funny to make up my own plan for runs, since I am so accustomed to following schedules.  But I feel pretty good about my ability to put together a reasonable workout that isn't too straining.  My plan is to also try some hills this week (maybe Thursday....maybe Saturday.....we will see how things go), do a 3-mile, and do 6 on Sunday.  Seems reasonable.

The one annoying thing is that my nose continues to run.  Admittedly, today was not as bad as Sunday, at least for the first half of the run, but then it started up again.  Also, I caved and walked twice during the run.  It remains warmer than I would prefer and there was some humidity in the air.  At least, I noticed that at around 0.5 miles, there was sweat running down my elbow.  I usually consider sweat at 0.4 miles to indicate icky levels of humidity, so it isn't as bad as the summer...but this is not much consolation when it is January!

I think I have identified the issue

I took a quick look at the Weather Network to learn more about Katia, our next named tropical storm, and I saw a big mess in the Gulf of Mexico.  There is a huge amount of tropical moisture streaming around, which will likely form into the Storm After Katia, which would be Lee.  This would explain why we have been experiencing higher than normal humidity.  But it doesn't make it any less icky:



Today's run was 8 miles.  In 100% humidity the entire time.  I was somewhat excited when I looked at the weather this morning and saw that the dew point was merely 73F, but that lasted only until I looked at the temperature and saw that it, also, was 73F.  Incidentally, this puts the temperature + humidity at 173.  That is so far beyond the threshold of ick (160) that I don't even know what to make of it.

I mean, it wasn't hot and it was overcast, so I guess that is good. But I could have done without the mounds of sweat that I experienced.  The weirdest part was that my legs really didn't feel tired at the end.  Everything else did, but not my legs.