Wednesday, June 15, 2016

WWU - Feels Like !@#$%

 Monday morning's weather...

We've hit the time of year when you need to pay attention to the "feels like" temperature for outdoor activities.  It's bad enough to wake up at 5:15 am, check the weather on your phone and see that it's already 79 degrees, but with the humidity coming in at 97%, that means that it will feel like 87 degrees for our morning run.  And I'll be honest, if I saw that it was actually 87 degrees on the thermometer, I wouldn't go for a run.  But somehow, because my brain only registers 79 degrees, I head out for my run.  And then wonder why I'm practically dying the entire time.

The worst thing about running in this kind of weather is the mental beatdown.  As I struggle to run, I think about how I'm a terrible runner, and that I'm so slow, and I feel like I'm barely moving...and then I realize, as sweat is flinging off of my elbows, that it's really just the weather.  Well, mostly the weather - I'm never fast, and especially now, as I work on running without doing intervals.  But, running with a friend really helps to push those ridiculous feelings aside...there's nothing like having someone validate your struggle, or encourage you, or better still, getting outside of your head and being the one to encourage another runner.  The next few months are not going to be easy for running, but at least I'll be in good company!

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We are all pretty much just running for some exercise and fun on Saturdays right now - our group chooses a direction and the distance varies, depending on which turn you take.  We met up at 6:30 am on Saturday and the sun was already out and beating down on us - oops!  Going to have to start a little earlier from now on, as that was rough.  Diane, Julia, and I ran down to the entrance of the fancy neighborhood before taking our first walk break, which ended up being at about 1.25 miles.  I don't know if it was the heat, the 100% humidity, the sun, the slightly hillier area (as opposed to the flatlands of my neighborhood), or what, but it felt much harder than my runs earlier in the week.  Once we were in the fancy neighborhood, we switched to running 2:1 intervals - best thing I can say about that run is that I was with my good friends and we survived it.

Monday, Diane and I ran in that horrendous "feels like" temperature of 87 degrees...and that was at 5:45 am, no less!  We broke our 2.5 miles up into a 1 mile run, a short walking break, another 1 mile run, a little bit longer walking break, and finally a half mile run to finish.  This picture does not accurately represent how sweaty we were, but it's the best we could manage:
Happy to be finished!

Yesterday, I walked a 5K with Jenny at 9:15 am, which meant it was sunny and hot.  We tried to mostly stay in the shade of the trees at the scary statue park, so that helped.  Jenny, who is always on the lookout for snakes, finally saw one - a three foot garter (non-poisonous) snake in the grass.  We stopped and watched it slither across the path in front of us, and I could have sworn by her body language that Jenny wanted to pick it up, but it was moving too fast.  Sure enough, once we started walking again, I asked if that had been her plan, and she said yes.  She likes snakes.  While I am pretty confident that I can outrun her, I'm really hoping she doesn't actually chase me with a snake.  We'd just been talking about how she needs to refer to me as "Good Shelley" because she has a really terrible Shelley in her life; I told her if she dares to chase me with a snake, she's going to become "Bad Jenny" - ahhh, friendship.  Apparently we're 10-year-olds deep down!

This morning I'll be running another 2.5 miles with Diane, and while I don't have a lot of optimism for much improvement from Monday's run, considering the weather is even warmer, we'll get it done.  And I'll probably run tomorrow as well...these shorter distances don't seem to be bothering me too much, physically, so I might as well run while I can. 

15 comments:

  1. You've got me curious about this "fancy" Neighborhood. You should takes some pics on your next walk break.

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    1. I usually don't bring my phone with me, but I should the next time I run in that neighborhood. Let's just say that I can't even afford to think about living there, it's so fancy!

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  2. Don't question yourself about your running. There are plenty of people who don't go out for a run in that humidity and either do it on a treadmill in an AC gym or don't go at all. One of the things I admire about you is that you always go for that run, no matter what the weather is (except for thunderstorms which is smart). So I'm proud of you and once the weather gets better, your speed will come back.

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    1. LOL, that is true, I pretty much always go for my run!

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  3. I to admire your dedication to your workouts no matter what the weather. Its now hot and muggy here 24/7 too. I am an indoor exerciser but I admire you tremendously!

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  4. Good grief that is some sweltering, melting weather you have going on there. Makes me feel bad that I got up this morning and felt grumpy because it was only 54 degrees and when I started running I was cold.

    And what Fran said, be proud of your dedication - most people would wimp out to A/C and a treadmill!

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    1. I just want to cry thinking about a 54 degree morning in June!

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  5. I feel your pain, Shelley! I've lived in Texas 95% of my life - you'd think I would be used to the humidity and heat this time of year, but it seems worse every summer. I try to walk outside, but sometimes it's too much and I resort to the treadmill in the gym. Better than nothing, I guess.

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  6. Ugh on the humidity! That never feels good no matter what the temp. Another confirmation that it would be impossible for me to live in the south

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    1. The one thing we almost never have to deal with here is static electricity, so there's that...

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  7. I guess you guys are smart enough to know when to quit--I worry about you out there running in that horrible weather. That said, congrats on running your longer distances without stopping. I think that is a MAJOR accomplishment!

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    1. No, not always super smart about knowing when to quit, although after a few scares, we are trying to get better about this. And thanks - I is a major accomplishment for me to run w/o stopping again, finally! :)

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  8. Last Saturday when I left the house at 4:30 in the morning, the temps were already 83! Great job on the running though - you inspire me to give it another go!

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  9. Ha! I love that she LOVES snakes!

    Don't beat yourself up! It's the time of year where A LOT of us are slower and the runs are harder. All of my runs are slower than they were in the early spring but I am just proud when I get out at all and it's not a suckfest! Keep at it! :)

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