I had lunch last week with a friend who is pregnant and we were talking about how annoying it is when you know that what you are feeling is out of your control, but you feel it anyway. Like when you get irritable after heat exhaustion (where this conversation started), and you know that irritability is a symptom of heat exhaustion, but you just feel irritable anyway. You can imagine that my pregnant friend had much to add on this topic.
Anyway, today I had to get a Tdap vaccination for immigration purposes (just go with it, the background isn't really relevant for this story). From what I have read online, one in four people develops fatigue from a Tdap vaccination. I felt completely lethargic today, which is why I looked this up.
Do you know what doesn't go well together? Fatigue and exercise.
I tried to do 5 miles today. I couldn't. I felt achy and tired all over (and I don't think that I can blame CrossFit this time, although yesterday's workout was pretty challenging). Then when I got to about 3 miles, I just felt....off. And I decided that in the wake of the heat exhaustion awfulness that feeling off was the cue to stop running. Also, another side effect, nausea, was starting to chime in too.
The really annoying part is that the weather was nice. Quite nice. Lower humidity than normal (okay, not perfect) and not dreadfully hot. But I couldn't take advantage of it liked I wanted to.
My new plan is to do another 3 miles on Saturday instead. It's not the same, but I really was not feeling okay tonight. And now I am irritated, but I can't blame heat exhaustion.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Huh
It would appear that things are getting better all around. Today was 10 miles. I had these grandiose plans to get up bright and early to run outside, but that didn't happen.
As an aside, I am currently taking care of a wonderful foster dog from the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. So I need to be up bright and early regardless. The problem is turning that into actually getting out and running after taking care of the dog, which didn't happen today.
After putting off the treadmill pretty much all day, I finally got around to it. And you know what? It wasn't so bad. In fact, it was remarkably not bad at all--this is not to say that it was easy, I still walked duirng parts of it and had the speed super low (and was super sweaty). I can think of a few reasons why today was better though:
1) I have been running consistently and competently lately. Nope. That's not it.
2) I have finally, finally, finally adapted to the heat (probably).
3) I'm finally over the heat exhaustion from a few weeks ago (also probably a bit).
4) The CrossFit is really paying off (maybe).
I do have to say that I'm really glad the treadmill was not hell. It will make it much easier the next time I need to use it.
I tried to run on the treadmill on Thursday, but I was worried that the foster dog was going to leap on it. He is currently recovering from surgery, so I don't want him near the moving parts of machinery. Today, I put together a nifty fort of furniture around the treadmill so that he couldn't get to it. Instead, he barked at it during my first interval, then settled down and slept. Good solution.
Do you know what else is fun? This was the long run for this week, meaning that I get two whole guilt-free days off. Yay!
As an aside, I am currently taking care of a wonderful foster dog from the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. So I need to be up bright and early regardless. The problem is turning that into actually getting out and running after taking care of the dog, which didn't happen today.
After putting off the treadmill pretty much all day, I finally got around to it. And you know what? It wasn't so bad. In fact, it was remarkably not bad at all--this is not to say that it was easy, I still walked duirng parts of it and had the speed super low (and was super sweaty). I can think of a few reasons why today was better though:
1) I have been running consistently and competently lately. Nope. That's not it.
2) I have finally, finally, finally adapted to the heat (probably).
3) I'm finally over the heat exhaustion from a few weeks ago (also probably a bit).
4) The CrossFit is really paying off (maybe).
I do have to say that I'm really glad the treadmill was not hell. It will make it much easier the next time I need to use it.
I tried to run on the treadmill on Thursday, but I was worried that the foster dog was going to leap on it. He is currently recovering from surgery, so I don't want him near the moving parts of machinery. Today, I put together a nifty fort of furniture around the treadmill so that he couldn't get to it. Instead, he barked at it during my first interval, then settled down and slept. Good solution.
Do you know what else is fun? This was the long run for this week, meaning that I get two whole guilt-free days off. Yay!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
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.
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.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
A surprisingly encouraging weekend
I think that part of what I like about running is that it can still surprise you. And not necessarily in bad ways, like when running surprised me a few weeks ago and I got heat exhaustion from it. No, running can also surprise you in good ways. This weekend has had a few of those moments and trust me, no one is more surprised than I am about it.
1) I did a 5k on Saturday. Not only did I not die, I didn't run my absolute worst 5k ever, which was kind of what I thought going into it. It was getting somewhat sunny during the run (it started a bit after 8am), so I had to walk because the sun got to me. But for the most part, I did okay.
2) I finished third in my age group. From this statement, you can probably deduce how many people were in my age group (answer: 3). And had it not been my birthday a couple of weeks ago, I would not have placed third in my age group. Nevertheless, you will have to pry that third-place finish white ribbon from my cold, dead hands as usual.
3) I met an interesting guy who is 75 years old and his goal is to run 1000 races. He is already in the 700s. Talk about impressive. This is one of those happy running surprises that I was telling you about. It's really cool to think that this guy has dedicated himself to running and still finds such enjoyment of it. He did join me in complaining about the weather, though.
4) I realized that I love CrossFit, which I started doing a few weeks ago, only I didn't tell you because it was a secret (I have no idea why I haven't talked about this). Even when CrossFit is really evil and they make you do 100 squats. That for real happened on Friday. I think I will keep it up. I feel stronger and less sluggish when running, so these are positive developments.
5) Tonight, the weather WAS NOT EVIL. No one, I repeat no one, was more surprised about this than I was. It was in the mid-80s, but the humidity was only in the 50% range when I started. And the dew point was under 70...in fact, it was 69. This type of weather is miraculous considering the time of year. I managed to almost run all of my 8 miles tonight. Not quite, because I got too excited and ran too fast at one point, and also it was getting more humid by the end of the run. But it was possibly the most pleasant surprise of all.
Okay, here is hoping that this good running momentum continues. I doubt that it will, particularly because I doubt that this more reasonable weather is sticking around for long. But I will enjoy it while it lasts and be glad that running can still provide happy surprises.
1) I did a 5k on Saturday. Not only did I not die, I didn't run my absolute worst 5k ever, which was kind of what I thought going into it. It was getting somewhat sunny during the run (it started a bit after 8am), so I had to walk because the sun got to me. But for the most part, I did okay.
2) I finished third in my age group. From this statement, you can probably deduce how many people were in my age group (answer: 3). And had it not been my birthday a couple of weeks ago, I would not have placed third in my age group. Nevertheless, you will have to pry that third-place finish white ribbon from my cold, dead hands as usual.
3) I met an interesting guy who is 75 years old and his goal is to run 1000 races. He is already in the 700s. Talk about impressive. This is one of those happy running surprises that I was telling you about. It's really cool to think that this guy has dedicated himself to running and still finds such enjoyment of it. He did join me in complaining about the weather, though.
4) I realized that I love CrossFit, which I started doing a few weeks ago, only I didn't tell you because it was a secret (I have no idea why I haven't talked about this). Even when CrossFit is really evil and they make you do 100 squats. That for real happened on Friday. I think I will keep it up. I feel stronger and less sluggish when running, so these are positive developments.
5) Tonight, the weather WAS NOT EVIL. No one, I repeat no one, was more surprised about this than I was. It was in the mid-80s, but the humidity was only in the 50% range when I started. And the dew point was under 70...in fact, it was 69. This type of weather is miraculous considering the time of year. I managed to almost run all of my 8 miles tonight. Not quite, because I got too excited and ran too fast at one point, and also it was getting more humid by the end of the run. But it was possibly the most pleasant surprise of all.
Okay, here is hoping that this good running momentum continues. I doubt that it will, particularly because I doubt that this more reasonable weather is sticking around for long. But I will enjoy it while it lasts and be glad that running can still provide happy surprises.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Getting Back Up on That Treadmill
I did the required 4 miles today.
It was not fast. It was not pretty. I walked a lot. Considering that I am probably still not 100% after the heat exhaustion on Monday, I decided that my best bet was to do it on the treadmill where I could stop easily if necessary.
Even though this was not the hardest workout I have ever done, I got through it. And that is a good first sign.
What can I do next time? Up the speed by one notch. Then another. Then another. Until I am back at where I want to be for training runs...which just happens to be three notches away, actually.
Next I can reduce the amount of walking I do. I suspect that I will have to walk a bit anyway or crank up my A/C possibly beyond its capabilities. I think I would rather just walk a bit. When I lived at my old place, there was a fitness center and I always had to walk--plus their gym was kept slightly cooler than my house. This was the same treadmill I used to train for my PR 5k time, so evidently the walking didn't do that much harm.
What felt really great about tonight was that it was the first time in a long time where I felt like I completed what I set out to do. Now, what I set out to do was not particularly challenging or particularly tough. But I did it. And now I can get better.
Something else I noticed tonight: that 'energy drink' that I had during my Monday run when I got heat exhaustion? It actually contributed basically nothing and had 0% sodium. This explains a lot. Time to find a new actual energy drink.
It was not fast. It was not pretty. I walked a lot. Considering that I am probably still not 100% after the heat exhaustion on Monday, I decided that my best bet was to do it on the treadmill where I could stop easily if necessary.
Even though this was not the hardest workout I have ever done, I got through it. And that is a good first sign.
What can I do next time? Up the speed by one notch. Then another. Then another. Until I am back at where I want to be for training runs...which just happens to be three notches away, actually.
Next I can reduce the amount of walking I do. I suspect that I will have to walk a bit anyway or crank up my A/C possibly beyond its capabilities. I think I would rather just walk a bit. When I lived at my old place, there was a fitness center and I always had to walk--plus their gym was kept slightly cooler than my house. This was the same treadmill I used to train for my PR 5k time, so evidently the walking didn't do that much harm.
What felt really great about tonight was that it was the first time in a long time where I felt like I completed what I set out to do. Now, what I set out to do was not particularly challenging or particularly tough. But I did it. And now I can get better.
Something else I noticed tonight: that 'energy drink' that I had during my Monday run when I got heat exhaustion? It actually contributed basically nothing and had 0% sodium. This explains a lot. Time to find a new actual energy drink.
I'm a runner. Therefore, sometimes I do stupid things.
Some might argue that running in and of itself is a stupid thing. Perhaps. But apart from that, runners tend to do stupid things. We try to hard. We push too hard. We injure ourselves. We try to go too hard in the heat.
Guess which one I did this week?
Part of me wasn't wanting to share this with you because I like to think that as a slow and steady runner with 6 years of running under my shoes (5 of which have been in Florida), I have some handle on what one should or should not do in heat. And I think that in my mind, I know what one should and should not do in heat. So when I tried to run my long run on Monday, 7 miles, I wanted to anticipate what I thought the problems would be. Instead, I wound up with the worst case of heat exhaustion that I have had since getting here.
Here's what I did right:
I took a sports drink and even planned to go by a drinking fountain.
I incorporated a walk interval into my run.
I reminded myself that the only way of adapting to heat is to go run in heat.
Here's what I did wrong:
I didn't go early enough.
I haven't been having enough sodium in my food.
And I believe that the final point here was the real problem (my symptoms are closer to 'salt depletion' than 'dehydration'...you can go look those up if you want. They're kind of nasty). Because I've been hydrated and my body temperature has been normal. But I have not felt right since the run. Normally, I am pretty sensitive to sodium, so I try not to have too much of it. This time around, though, this precaution may have been the problem.
Today I had half of a bag of cheese curds for lunch. That should help the sodium levels.
I still feel off and I'm not sure what to do. I want to get back on the horse and run--I was already having mental blocks about completing runs in heat (hence why what should have been the Sunday run got moved to Monday). But obviously I don't want this to get worse. I suspect that this week will have some pool running at some point. And I'm going to ensure that I only go early morning or in the evening to avoid the sheer evil that is Mr. Florida Sun in August.
I'm kind of annoyed, so I read stories about other runners who have suffered from heat exhaustion today. One was a person who wanted to adapt to the heat, so she decided to run in the middle of the day on blacktop. In summer. In heat. Not the best plan. I'm not gloating over this, but it has been useful to remember that I am by no means the only one to do dumb things like this. In fact, part of being a runner is that probably you sometimes do dumb things. Besides going out running, of course.
Guess which one I did this week?
Part of me wasn't wanting to share this with you because I like to think that as a slow and steady runner with 6 years of running under my shoes (5 of which have been in Florida), I have some handle on what one should or should not do in heat. And I think that in my mind, I know what one should and should not do in heat. So when I tried to run my long run on Monday, 7 miles, I wanted to anticipate what I thought the problems would be. Instead, I wound up with the worst case of heat exhaustion that I have had since getting here.
Here's what I did right:
I took a sports drink and even planned to go by a drinking fountain.
I incorporated a walk interval into my run.
I reminded myself that the only way of adapting to heat is to go run in heat.
Here's what I did wrong:
I didn't go early enough.
I haven't been having enough sodium in my food.
And I believe that the final point here was the real problem (my symptoms are closer to 'salt depletion' than 'dehydration'...you can go look those up if you want. They're kind of nasty). Because I've been hydrated and my body temperature has been normal. But I have not felt right since the run. Normally, I am pretty sensitive to sodium, so I try not to have too much of it. This time around, though, this precaution may have been the problem.
Today I had half of a bag of cheese curds for lunch. That should help the sodium levels.
I still feel off and I'm not sure what to do. I want to get back on the horse and run--I was already having mental blocks about completing runs in heat (hence why what should have been the Sunday run got moved to Monday). But obviously I don't want this to get worse. I suspect that this week will have some pool running at some point. And I'm going to ensure that I only go early morning or in the evening to avoid the sheer evil that is Mr. Florida Sun in August.
I'm kind of annoyed, so I read stories about other runners who have suffered from heat exhaustion today. One was a person who wanted to adapt to the heat, so she decided to run in the middle of the day on blacktop. In summer. In heat. Not the best plan. I'm not gloating over this, but it has been useful to remember that I am by no means the only one to do dumb things like this. In fact, part of being a runner is that probably you sometimes do dumb things. Besides going out running, of course.
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