Often when I’m running my mind is so clear that I’ll just
take a thought and run with it (no pun intended). Sometimes though, because my mind is so
clear, that thought just keeps going out of control because there isn’t
anything to get in its way. With that in
mind, I bring you this musical hodgepodge of a post.
I wrote a post on Friday about last week’s running but never
got it up on the blog. With other things
from this weekend worth sharing, I figured I would do a themed mega post. Why a theme?
Well, “Why the hell not?” I ask you.
There Was
Something in the Air This Week (written Friday)
(This video creeps me out and cracks me up all at the same
time.)
To the tune of ABBA’s Fernando
–
There was something in the air this week
My nose couldn’t
breathe
Damn pollen
That quick spoof came to me during my run yesterday. It was yet another day where I could barely
breathe on my run because of allergies.
The pollen has been so high that not only can you see it floating around
in the air in the sunlight, but you can even see the golden pollen underneath
trees on the blacktop of the street. I
suffered through my run which ended up being at a decent pace, but besides just
being stuffy, my eyes were also stinging at the end from the allergens.
Earlier in the week I could barely get out of bed and get
going I was so stuffed up. For me it’s
all watery itchy eyes and upper nasal congestion. Basically draw a triangle from eye to eye and
to the bridge of my nose and you have my allergy problem area. I’ve been doing a regimen of Halls cough
drops, tea, and generic 24-hour Clariton.
The tea and Halls sooth my itchy throat and clear up my airways. The meds basically don’t make me feel as worn
down.
My allergies are a newer thing for me too, one I don’t
understand. Growing up on a farm, I
never had a problem. Sure, you get a
huge billow of hay dust in your face from unloading small hay bales, then I
might sneeze but then anyone would. Now
that I’m older though, I’m apparently developing allergies.
Tomorrow I have a 6 miler to run, so I’m a bit concerned
about well, not being able to breathe.
To make matters potentially worse, tomorrow is also going to be a hot
one with high temperatures in the mid to high 80s. I think I’ll try to get going early, before
it gets too hot but also before the pollen really gets swirling around.
Until then, could you please pass the bag of cough drops?
Feeling Hot, Hot,
Hot (Saturday)
(I think everyone knows (or knows of) that song…)
Yep, the 6 mile run today sucked. Allergies weren’t a problem. It was just plain hot. When I left for my run around 11, it was 82. When I got back, it was 88. Not that I needed to check the temperature
when I got back to know that I had cooked outside.
I started out well , at a pretty decent pace
but by mile 3 however I knew the heat was taking its toll. I would either need to cut my loop short or
find water somewhere. Luckily, I knew I
was running past my old favorite water stop from my 2009 Madison Marathon
training, a popular west side park pavilion.
So just shy of mile 4, I jogged into the park and got some water. Not remembering where the drinking fountain
was, I just ran into the bathroom and got water from that sink. I just used the “hands cup” method and drank
a good 5 or so “hand cups” of water. I
also doused my head and back with water as well to cool off.
My water break lasted about 4 minutes and I was back on the
road. To keep cool, I took a wet balled
up paper towel and placed it at the top of my back underneath my shirt. That only stayed put for about a quarter
mile, but it was of no help anyway as the towel had already basically dried out
in that little time. Did I mention it
was hot? With my parched bunched up
paper towel in hand (there wasn’t a garbage and I didn’t want to litter), I
trotted home and finished off the remaining 2 miles.
My finishing time wasn’t great. With the 4 minute water break included, my
time was 52:15, a per-mile pace of 8:43.
With the 4 minutes taken out, the run was a more respectable 48:15, a
pace of 8:03 per mile. Although on a
different route, I was able to run my last 6 miler at a 7:55 per mile
pace. Maybe my expectations were a bit
high for such a hot day, but that’s the time I was shooting for.
I did my normal post-run stretching routine outside, but
with a non-normal bottle of ice water at hand.
I really just kept putting as much water in me as I could, continuing
throughout the rest of the day. One
thing I didn’t do as well is replenish with electrolytes. I ate regular food after my run but not
enough to replenish the salts and other stuff I had sweated out. Because of this, my lower legs were killing
me, enough that I had to get out my old trusty compression socks. Without these I had issues just walking around
the apartment without my lower leg muscles twinging.
Hot Running
(Sunday)
(I saw this video and had to post it as Foreigner’s lead
vocalist looks like a bad 1980s version of a grudge hipster.)
To the Tune of Foreigner’s Hot Blooded –
Well
I’m hot running. Check it and see.
I’m
pushing a pace of 7:33…
Come
on lazy, go faster than that!
Hot
running, I’m hot running…
After my rough Saturday run, I slept in a bit too much on
Sunday. That meant my run had a late
start and also meant that I was running in the heat again. The temperature was just as high but luckily
there was a strong south breeze from 15-20 mph that was cooling things down
enough to make it tolerable. Again
possibly not making the best decision, I decided to go out and put all I could
into my planned 3 mile run to make up for Saturday’s let down.
With the south wind blowing on my left and eventually
pushing me along with a tailwind, I got off to a very good start on my
run. I’m not sure how fast I was going,
but it felt like I was flying. After the
first mile though I wondered if I was going too fast and thus started to slow
down and conserve. There would be some
hills mid-run and then a long finish into a strong headwind. Luckily I did hold back a bit because as I
rounded a corner to go up the long steep hill in the loop (right at the 2 mile
mark), the heat found me. I chugged up
the hill as fast as I felt I could within reason and then hung in there for the
rest of the run. With about a half mile
to go, the point where I would start a bit of a kick, I had nothing. I really had no more coal to add to the fire. This steam engine was holding steady and
coasting into the station.
My time wasn’t so bad I guess. The 3 miler took me 22:25 to finish, with a
pace of 7:28 per mile. A few weeks back
my fastest 3 mile run was done on the same route, but with a 7:16 pace. I always go out on a run hoping to better a
previous personal best, but I knew it wasn’t going to be today. It was too hot, the wind wasn’t going to help,
and my body was still recuperating from Saturday’s long hot run. Still I was hoping I would get that high note
to end my weekend running on – but didn’t get it.
Monday, Monday
(well…yeah, Monday)
(Classic 60s / 70s music videos like this are just too cheery not to share)
Real lyrics from the Mamas & the Papas Monday, Monday –
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever
Monday comes
You can find me cryin’ all of
the time
Not that Monday’s are ever the best day of the week, but
today was a particularly a bad one.
Life, work, and of that stuff was perfectly good. With my current running schedule, today was
also a rest day. So what was wrong? My lower back.
I don’t know if I slept weird or if it was something I
pulled while running over the weekend, but I was in pain. I wasn’t crying like in the lyrics above, but
I was scrunching up my face if I moved the wrong way. Besides taking some Ibuprofen right away in
the morning, I also had to make a lunch time run to Target for some Icy
Hot. I felt bad that I was engulfing my
office cubicle-land with minty muscle ointment smell, but whatever, I was
hurting.
My wife so lovingly gave me a massage once I got home, which
then I followed up with another round of Icy Hot. Hopefully my wife will find pity on me and
try massaging some deep knots out of my back before bed. I’ll lay off the Icy Hot before bed though. I don’t think I could stand the noxious fumes
while trying to sleep.
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