Blazing Slow

I used to be, relatively speaking, blazing fast. Now I'm blazing slow. Since it's a three-day weekend I decided to spend yesterday smoking some pork and enjoying the day, which meant that today became my running day. It was a little bit cool when I first got up, and at running time in the late morning hours it was pleasant for a run with a nice breeze from the southeast. I ran 7 miles and overall felt good. The stiff breeze threw off the GPS a fraction, but I know my markers. What a nice day.

Sweating Profusely

This was the first real hint of summer today. Temperature near 90 degrees and enough humidity to make the heat index into the mid-90s. Accordingly, I instituted my walk-every-mile routine and it worked quite well. I went 5 miles and overall felt good, even with all the sweat. In fact, I can tell that running and exercising regularly is making a difference. After my first walk for a minute I took off again and had that feeling of wow, that feels...strong is maybe not the right word, but I could feel the benefits of the exercise. Hoping to keep that going as we truly get into summer.

More Hills in Texas

It rained this morning and into the afternoon, but by mid-afternoon the clouds cleared and the sun actually came out. This seemed like a good day for hill running, so I did. The temperature was pushing 80 but not quite there. I found enough shade and a bit of a breeze to keep from overheating. I ran 5 miles on my normal hill route, and for the most part felt pretty good. I concentrated on running with my butt - yes, it's a thing and focusing on it helps run with stronger muscles rather than knees and weaker parts of the mechanism. I remember reading about it a few years ago in that runner's magazine that I no longer care for, but the lesson remains with me. Lots of sweat today, which is good since I need to shed a few pounds.

Humid but Cool

The weather app told me that the humidity was 90% when I ran today. Not sure if that was correct since I feel like I didn't sweat as much as I have before at that level. Maybe the difference was that today the weather was cooler than on Thursday. I didn't walk, other than when I ran into someone I knew and talked to him for a few minutes. That little pause actually helped since it gave me the momentum to run a full 7 miles. That was my plan but I thought there might be some walking involved, but nope, it all went pretty well. I also thought there might be more water across some of the paths, but the creek was actually down and only one spot where I had to tip-toe. Well, in reality I walked on my heels through the water since they're thicker and my feet don't get wet. But you get the idea.

Hey Humidity

I didn't think we were actually expecting much rain today, but it lightly rained for several hours. When I went out for a run the humidity was nice and high. Due to that and the fact that I just felt fatigued all day, I decided to limit my run to 4 miles, with walks at the markers. That seems like it was a good choice since in the last mile I had tightness in my left calf, a sure sign that the humidity is getting to me. Fortunately I was able to get home without any cramping and go straight to the fruit bowl for a banana.

Shoulda Woulda

I should have run yesterday, and if so I would have actually avoided the rainstorms. See, thunderstorms passed through the area all day yesterday. At my normal running time it was between storms but tough to see if it was going to stay that way for long. Well, it did. And I should have gone out at that point. Oh, well. 

Today was more humid, of course, after all the rain. Plus the temperature was right at 80 degrees, my threshold for starting to walk every mile. I went 5 miles with those walks included. Even though it was plenty humid it was still all right. I was just glad to get out and not have to worry about an impending storm.

Run with a Dash of Walking

This morning I went 7 miles in a nice temperature with a little bit of humidity. I got to the five-mile mark and walked for a minute. Then at about the 5.6-5.7 mile mark I walked until a little past the next mile marker. It just felt like the right thing to do. Then I closed the last mile by running, walking up the big hill, and then running to the end. Even with the walking it wasn't a bad run. There were plenty of people out on this nice morning, probably trying to get in their exercise since there's a chance of rain every day for the next week or so. It does feel good to be doing long runs beyond six miles, and I'm still planning on getting back to a six-miler as my standard run.

Making It

From the very beginning I could feel the drag from yesterday's run as well as staying up too late last night. First I thought about running only a couple of miles, then maybe four, before deciding I was going to tough it out. Mainly I wanted to see if the path was still underwater where I turned around yesterday. It was, but not as badly and I was able to easily navigate to the other side. I went my 5 miles without bailing out, and in my book that counts as a good run.

Cloudy

Didn't run yesterday due to rain, and same on Monday when I thought about running a day early. Today was cloudy and cool, with a high of about 60 degrees. Plus there was a nice breeze out of the east to make me put on a long-sleeved shirt. I went 5 miles, but had to do a little change to get there. At the 2.25 mile mark I encountered water across the path that I didn't really want to navigate since it was pretty deep. I turned back and then took a side leg out and back to my main path. Whatever, it worked and I got in my targeted mileage.

Windy Running

Today was warmish, and also very windy. I ran 6 miles, with a couple of walks due to the high humidity. That was a good start to the day, because then I came home and did some yard work. That involved bundling up some of the branches from the tree I cut down a couple of weeks ago, and then mowing the lawn. My allergies are in full gear with all this wind, so the rest of the day will likely be spent inside. It does seem like allergies are worse this year than the past, and I'm not sure why. Maybe because of the Snowpocalypse we had back in February and it delayed and then concentrated all the blooming? I don't know.

Summer Warm-Up

Today was a trial run for warmer temperatures, with the thermometer at 83 degrees this afternoon. My rule of thumb lately has been that if it's 80 or above, I will walk every mile. I definitely needed it today. The 5 miles went pretty well overall, and it was good to get back into the mode of sweating it out. I kicked the last quarter of a mile or so for some continued variety. My goal is to add a little bit of hill work or speed work into my upcoming runs.

Variety

Today I decided some variety was needed. I went west instead of east, and hit the hills. It actually went better than I thought. I ran 5 miles, and ran partway up the big hill coming east from Ridge, but decided I didn't need to push it too much. I needed to mix it up a bit after running the same path for months straight, and I'm glad I did. The nice breeze out of the northwest didn't hurt either.

Bad Timing

The forecast called for about 2.5 inches of rain on Wednesday, with more to follow on Thursday but dwindling away by 4 p.m. Instead, what we got was nothing, or next to nothing, on Wednesday, and nothing on Thursday. That is, until it was time for me to run. Right at 4:30 or so when I was shutting down from work and about to get dressed for a run, the rain started. That's what I call bad timing.

Today was better. Clouds are in the area and the temperature is mild. Only a slight breeze from the south, and water over the path in one area that saw me get me shoes a little wet. Fortunately they seem to shed water quickly since it didn't bother me on the way out or the way back, and they were definitely wetter the second time through. I decided to push for a little bit extra today and ended up going 7 miles. I actually felt good all the way through. That's probably a result of not running on Thursday, but whatever the cause, I'll take it.