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April 02, 2005
Early Morning Runs are Good for Something
At least some of the time. I have found that I usually manage to get my long run in before the really nasty weather makes an appearance. That was most definitely the case today. The weather was not all that great this morning, but it was far better than it is at the moment.
I had planned to run about 17 again this weekend, but that was not to be. The first issue was the weather. Running in the rain is not all that bad, it is not one of my favorite things, but I can tolerate it. When I got dressed I was not sure what I wanted to put on; it was about 46 degrees, shorts were a possiblity, but I didn't know about the rain. I decided to put baggy pants on over my shorts, that way if I was hot, I could take the pants off. When I got outside I thought that I would be cold if I lost the pants, so I kept them on. Early on in the run, before the rain, I was warm, but once it started to rain I was comfortable. Today's rain is one of those hard, driving, cold rains. My pants were soaked, about 40 minutes into the run I was complaining about how heavy my pants were from the rain. I said that I could pee my pants and nobody would be able to tell, one of the guys said that I might not even know since we were so drenched, but I reminded him that it would be much warmer than the rain! By the end of my run I think that I had gained about ten pounds of water weight.
We decided to do the back roads this morning, the roads that we were supposed to go on last weekend. We were kind of like Noah's Ark, running in groups of two in the rain. Most of the group was going on the shorter side, Boston runners are tapering, the weather sucked, the longer races around here are almost done-basically nobody really wanted to be out all that long today. The course we did was very hilly and I was struggling more than usual on the hills. M and a visitor, I (I think), were hammering pretty hard. Another M and I caught up to them when they stopped to wait for us to see if we would add on there or go someplace else. The first M said that he would run whatever with me, so we added on for about 45 more minutes. We backed off the pace some, especially after I told him that I was feeling awfully depleted. I really have not felt so depleted during a run for a very long time. I think that I can attribute some of it to doing doubles three days this week. My poor eating habits earlier in the week did not help matters, either. We got back to the school in 1:52, which was plenty long for me.
Last weekend we had a discussion in which one of the guys stated that one of his friends will call a hilly 7 mile run an 8 mile run. Today I was thinking about that...I would not call today's 15/16 longer in my book, but it takes much more effort than a flat 18/19 mile run. Some people may not have the same problems on the hills that I do, but hills really take a lot of effort for me to run. I don't seek out flat courses because I am so weak on hills, but I do not seek out extremely hilly courses because it takes more to recover.
I went to the gym, did half an hour on the elliptical and a half hour on the bike. I stretched more than I usually do because I have noticed that I have been unusually tight for the past couple of days. My flexibility has been better, so it is something that I need to start doing again. I lifted, but again, felt depleted. I did less than I usually will because I was feeling weak and discouraged. The gym suddendly has a foam roller, so after riding the bike I did some work on it instead of waiting until I got home. My piriformis is feeling restricted again, so I was trying to work it out. My next massage could be very painful...the elbow will definitely be in the butt!
It sounds like the rain has eased off some. We're under a flood watch until sometime tomorrow morning. When we ran by the river this morning, we could really smell the worms. The river looked like it could overflow at any minute. This bodes well for tonight. A friend from high school has a black-tie optional event for work to attend. Her husband is working, so she invited me. Nothing like going out, all dressed up, in a driving rain. I've got to go and decide what to wear.
Posted by Blondie at April 2, 2005 03:25 PM