I have been struggling with hip pain and yesterday talked with a friend of mine who is a nurse practitioner. She said it may be my IT band and suggested taking naproxen twice a day for 10 days so I guess I will try that. Any other suggestions from anyone?
Sunday, September 25, 2011
September Running
I decided to write on the blog although I don't think anyone is reading it except for Jay. I have been running at least 1-2 days a week during the summer and now am at least going twice a week now the weather is cooler. A friend from work is training for a marathon she is running in January so about once a week I go with her. Friday she was planning on running 7 miles so we went down by the Oklahoma River which I had never been to before. She ran her 7 miles and I ran about 5 1/2. It was my first day off after working 3 twelve hours shifts so that is my excuse for not doing as well as her. It is a lot easier to run when it is not so hot and it is also easier to make myself go for a run when I am training for something.
Monday, September 12, 2011
The cool weather difference
After three months of unrelenting outer-circle-of-hell temperatures, we finally got a break in Oklahoma beginning in the middle of Labor Day weekend. That Saturday the temperature reached 103. We woke up the next day to cloudy skies and a North wind making a surprisingly cool-feeling 70ish degree morning. It felt like you went to bed in Oklahoma and woke up in a different state. The low for Labor Day was predicted to be around 54 so I had decided that was the morning I would do my long run for the weekend.
I got up around 7 on Monday morning and found the temp was 56 with a pretty good breeze blowing out of the north. I got dressed, ate an English muffin then took off. Needless to say, it felt pretty cool to me after running in hot temps all summer (79 or 80 was about as cool as it got), but I knew I'd warm up soon enough so I resisted the urge to put on more than just shorts and a singlet.
We were housesitting for Peggy's sister last week and when we've been staying there, I just run around their neighborhood because it's a big loop that's about 1.1 miles around. I had a great run that morning. I ran six miles with a couple of quick stops for a drink. After six, I stopped at the house and rested for about 10 minutes, then ate a Gu packet and took off again finally finishing at 10.4 miles.
I followed that run up with another long run this weekend, putting in 11 miles this time. So, let me finally get to the point of this post. I know running in hot weather is harder than running in cool weather, but until these last couple of long runs I didn't realize how much it difference it really makes.
I've been wanting to run a full marathon and have been thinking I'd like to try it at the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa in November. But I've had doubts about actually being able to accomplish this. In the three half marathons I've run, by the time I finished each one, I knew on those days, there was no way I could run another half, to equal a full marathon. Of course I also knew you have to train to run a full marathon, building up your long runs week by week until you know you can go at least 18-20 miles before attempting 26.2 in a race.
I've tried to keep up my long runs over the summer to keep a good base so graduating to a full marathon wouldn't seem to big of a step (hopefully). My long runs since the OKC marathon have been anywhere from 6 to 9 miles, with 7 miles probably being the average. As the summer progressed I kept thinking I needed to start extending my long runs if I was going to run a marathon this fall. A lot of weekends I'd think I'm going to run 10 miles this weekend, but then I'd end up running 7 or 8... I'd manage 9 if I really pushed myself. And even worse, I'd have to stop and rest 3 or 4 minutes before each of those last couple of miles and it would still be all I could do to run them.
I wondered what the problem was. I knew the heat didn't make it easier, but I didn't think that was the basic problem. I figured out that if I ran too fast in the first 4 or 5 miles I pooped out a lot quicker, so I'd work on keeping my pace close to 9:30 miles. But I'd still be dying by mile 8. I thought maybe I'm not eating well enough and running out of fuel. But it didn't matter how much I ate or if I took a Gu halfway through my run. I still had the same result.
Finally, with the cool weather the last couple of weekend mornings I understood that the heat and humidity were taking a bigger toll on me than I was aware of. I did those last two long runs with many fewer breaks than I've been taking all summer and I ran further and finished much stronger than I've been able to over the summer. After my 11th mile this past weekend, by legs were definitely getting tired, but I still could have run another mile or two. Now I've got hope that I can run a full marathon! We're not done completely with hot weather this year, but it looks like they'll be fewer and further between. I've got a bit over 2 months until the Route 66, so I'm going to keep working my mileage up a bit each week and we'll see how it goes.
I got up around 7 on Monday morning and found the temp was 56 with a pretty good breeze blowing out of the north. I got dressed, ate an English muffin then took off. Needless to say, it felt pretty cool to me after running in hot temps all summer (79 or 80 was about as cool as it got), but I knew I'd warm up soon enough so I resisted the urge to put on more than just shorts and a singlet.
We were housesitting for Peggy's sister last week and when we've been staying there, I just run around their neighborhood because it's a big loop that's about 1.1 miles around. I had a great run that morning. I ran six miles with a couple of quick stops for a drink. After six, I stopped at the house and rested for about 10 minutes, then ate a Gu packet and took off again finally finishing at 10.4 miles.
I followed that run up with another long run this weekend, putting in 11 miles this time. So, let me finally get to the point of this post. I know running in hot weather is harder than running in cool weather, but until these last couple of long runs I didn't realize how much it difference it really makes.
I've been wanting to run a full marathon and have been thinking I'd like to try it at the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa in November. But I've had doubts about actually being able to accomplish this. In the three half marathons I've run, by the time I finished each one, I knew on those days, there was no way I could run another half, to equal a full marathon. Of course I also knew you have to train to run a full marathon, building up your long runs week by week until you know you can go at least 18-20 miles before attempting 26.2 in a race.
I've tried to keep up my long runs over the summer to keep a good base so graduating to a full marathon wouldn't seem to big of a step (hopefully). My long runs since the OKC marathon have been anywhere from 6 to 9 miles, with 7 miles probably being the average. As the summer progressed I kept thinking I needed to start extending my long runs if I was going to run a marathon this fall. A lot of weekends I'd think I'm going to run 10 miles this weekend, but then I'd end up running 7 or 8... I'd manage 9 if I really pushed myself. And even worse, I'd have to stop and rest 3 or 4 minutes before each of those last couple of miles and it would still be all I could do to run them.
I wondered what the problem was. I knew the heat didn't make it easier, but I didn't think that was the basic problem. I figured out that if I ran too fast in the first 4 or 5 miles I pooped out a lot quicker, so I'd work on keeping my pace close to 9:30 miles. But I'd still be dying by mile 8. I thought maybe I'm not eating well enough and running out of fuel. But it didn't matter how much I ate or if I took a Gu halfway through my run. I still had the same result.
Finally, with the cool weather the last couple of weekend mornings I understood that the heat and humidity were taking a bigger toll on me than I was aware of. I did those last two long runs with many fewer breaks than I've been taking all summer and I ran further and finished much stronger than I've been able to over the summer. After my 11th mile this past weekend, by legs were definitely getting tired, but I still could have run another mile or two. Now I've got hope that I can run a full marathon! We're not done completely with hot weather this year, but it looks like they'll be fewer and further between. I've got a bit over 2 months until the Route 66, so I'm going to keep working my mileage up a bit each week and we'll see how it goes.
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