Sunday, August 30, 2020

Weekly Sweats: Compromise

The theme of this week was doing what I could with what I had.  Last week the weather was in my favor and the world was my oyster.  This week, well, let's just say that Mother Nature got August temps back to average and then some.  I called up my friend the treadmill and gave up my long run and got in 26 wonderful miles in return.

I'm linking up with the Weekly Run Down, please head over to Kim and Deborah to check it out.

Monday: used the denial method to deal with the heat.  4.25 miles easy, with a speedy mile thrown in to show off and breaks taken as needed.

Tuesday: sometimes what looks bad on paper turns out well in the execution.  The night before one of my running friends texted to see if anyone wanted to run at 6:30.  Heck yes I did...and then someone else texted back "hey can we go at 6?".  Ugh!

  • That's earlier than I need to be up
  • That's darker than I'm comfortable with 
  • The forecast for dark o'clock was "hot as balls"

Three strikes and this run was out!  Another member of the group texted exactly what I was thinking but for some reason autocorrect changed my reply to "Sounds great!  See u then!"

And of course it was fabulous.  I did a mile on the treadmill beforehand, 3 with the group, and then came home and did another 2.25 to get to 6.25 miles total.  It was very hot but I was able to keep up with the group without too much of a struggle.

Wednesday: off, apart from a marathon of forecast checking to make sure that the ungodly hot temps I was seeing for the rest of my running week were in fact going to happen.

Thursday: There was no way that I was going outside so I fired up the treadmill.  I don't have a lot of treadmill endurance right now so I figured that I would do 2 or 3 miles inside and if I wanted more I'd catch a mile or two outside.  And I ended up surprising myself by cranking out 6.3 miles, which is the longest treadmill run that I've done since March.  I think that I was so horrified by the amount of sweat coming out of my body that I was distracted from the monotony of the treadmill.  I briefly considered hanging in there for a few more miles to get my long run but decided to quit while I was ahead.

Friday: 5 treadmill miles!  I debated just doing my normal Friday 4 or trying to get my long run of 8, which got me over the minimum but didn't quite give me the juice for the maximum.

Saturday: Procrastination pays off.  You know I'm not one to hate on the treadmill, it's what makes running possible in extreme weather.  But it does take a certain amount of mental grit and I just didn't have it that day.  We'd had a huge storm the night before and the weather was very unstable.  It was hot with blazing sun alternating with gusty winds and pitch black clouds, almost like a kid was playing with a light switch.  What a great day...for a rest day.  Except that the more I committed to a morning on the couch the more I wanted to get off my butt.  I "always" work out in the morning and 11:59 AM is morning.  Once I was out the door and running no surprise that things kind of worked out.  The sun was intense in places but never for very long and there was quite a chilly headwind out there that was much appreciated (yes I just used the words "headwind" and "appreciated" in the same sentence).  I knew that it was too hot for me to run without stopping, so that became my permission slip to push the pace and get myself a sub 11 minute paced run so boo-yah there.  4.25 miles and no regrets that I didn't get a long run in this week, there will be lots of weeks coming up where the forecast isn't trying to kill me.

Sunday: making up for the couch day that I didn't take yesterday and looking forward to next week's cooler temps.

That's all I've got for this week!  Thanks for stopping by!


 

30 comments:

  1. Well, you know my opinion on the 'mill, and I 120% agree that it takes a certain kind of grit (a kind of grit that I don't have much of). Big boo-yah to YOU for all those miles this week!

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  2. We also had some serious heat and humidity this past week. Kind of over it! A few more weeks and we should have some better temps. Great job on your workouts this week thanks for linking up

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    1. I'm really over it! Fingers crossed that September plays nice.

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  3. Awesome job on all of your miles this week!

    I'm part of the 5% of runners that don't mind the treadmill, lol. The longest run I've done on the treadmill is 14 miles. While I wouldn't recommend doing that often, it was manageable with the right music, lol.

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    1. Runners owe a lot to the treadmill! I'm very grateful for it when it's too hot, too cold, too icy, etc. My husband is almost 100% a treadmill runner b/c road running aggravates his injuries. "Satan's Sidewalk" definitely gets a lot of use in our house.

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  4. Nice miles--we get them no matter how, right? I am glad I didn't have to resort to the TM last week, although Friday's morning run was pretty dicey. Today? Amazing.

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    1. I cannot wait for tomorrow's run which should be cool. I swear that I really love summer it's just that my body doesn't do running in high temps.

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  5. Way to dig in and get it done on the mill! I'm not a fan of the mill either, but at this point I'd rather deal with the mill than any more hot and humid runs - I'm so over summer!

    Hope the weather cooperates this week for you!

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    1. Fingers crossed! We're both due for a good weather week.

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  6. Nice job on the treadmill! I haven't used mine in several months and I hope it stays that way. Though I know once it gets cold, icy, snowy and dark, I'll likely be back on there.

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    1. I don't run in the dark, so if it wasn't for WFH I'd already be doing my weekday runs inside. It will be interesting to see how long I can keep going outside this year.

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  7. I hate when autocorrect does that. LOL!! I'm glad we got a break in the heat here finally, but some of the days were just downright gross with the heat so early. 75 at 6am? WTF!

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    1. Hee hee if you ask a runner if they want to run, you're probably not going to get no as an answer. On the heat, we've done our part by getting up and ready to go at 6, is it really asking too much from the universe to keep the heat down to a simmer at that hour???

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  8. Wait, you got up even earlier to do a mile on the TM first? LOL. I am not liking the dark at 6 am, but at least for now I can switch up my routine and run a bit later. Great week for you.

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    1. Yes, my friends are faster than I am so it helps if I can get a warm up mile in. My favorite perk of the pandemic for sure is being able to start my runs later in the morning.

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  9. It was a rough week of weather here too! Glad you could still get your runs in. Its nice to have the treadmill on days when the weather doesn't cooperate!

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    1. For sure! And I just want to say again how smart you were to take a running break around this time, i may steal that idea next year.

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  10. I so admire your enthusiasm for running, especially in summer. The heat was a beast this week. Thankfully it all blew outta here.

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    1. And hopefully it's gone for good this time! While I have a handful of coping mechanisms (salt tabs and cooling gaiters) this summer running gig isn't my thing.

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  11. Don't own a tm and my gym is closed. Hate them anyway.

    So running is a challenge.

    What has helped is meeting friends on the weekend. and running very very slow.

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    1. Summer is challenging! At least it's doable if you're smart about not overdoing it in the heat. Winter is a different story, then I will suck it up for the treadmill every day so that I don't have to worry about falling on ice.

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  12. Summer running is hard, that's for sure! There's no way that I could run at noon (or 11:59)! It's usually about 105 at least by then! I'm ready for summer to be over.

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    1. If I lived in CA I would definitely have to get up earlier! And I would have your gorgeous views.

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  13. You did great this week! The treadmill is not my favorite, by a long shot, but you got it done! I love that your phone "autocorrected" to go out super early. I'm totally the early bird running friend.

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    1. I tell you what, getting up that early is sure a lot easier when there's good company.

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  14. Haha, I was laughing "for some reason autocorrect changed my reply to "Sounds great! See u then!" Many times things go better than we expect them to be.

    Nice mileage this week! I also don't mind the treadmill because it is nice to have it when it is too hot, too cold, too icy, etc. I think the longest I've run is 14 or 16 miles. It is a vague memory but I am sure it will pop up in one of my Facebook memories.

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    1. Just wow, my longest run on the tready is 10. I do most of my winter running on the tready which I don't mind because otherwise I would have to stop running in the winter. But physically it's just different enough from road running that I need a few weeks to adjust to it.

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  15. I didn't mind the treadmill at the gym... I don't have one at home so I don't know if that would be different. Good for you for still getting sh*t done, though.

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    1. A treadmill at home is really nice b/c it's there 24/7 and just a short walk downstairs. It's just different enough from road running that I have to build up my endurance on it.

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  16. Although I'm grateful for the option of having a treadmill to fall back on, I will pick the heat outdoors over the treadmill anytime. I just get so bored... I did find recently during an electrical storm that doing my walk/run intervals distracts me and makes it more bearable.

    Have a great weekend!

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