Hills and Heat

We have gotten our hottest weather this past week and it makes even the earliest morning runs miserable.

With the hills we did get some great views

Monday - Speed work on the treadmill.  4.6 for the first mile.  Then rotated between 4.8 and 5.0 every .10 miles for the second mile.  Then rotated between 4.9 and 5.1 every .10 miles for the third mile.  Then for .22 miles I did a 5.2 (making up for the difference between the treadmill and my Garmin).  The treadmill read 3.22 and Garmin 3.0.  Next week I want to up it one more natch and that might be the sweet spot for me.

Tuesday - My FT class at the gym and then Pilates at lunch.

Wednesday - 5 mile run around the neighborhood.  While the temperatures start getting hotter, this was not a very bad run.  Just slow as usual.  I kept cursing myself on how slow I have been, but try to remember that most of that is the heat.  And then a few of us met up at lunch and did another Shaun T Hip Hop Abs video.

Thursday - My FT class.  He really knows how to work us hard.

Friday - I was going to do 4 miles, but ended up skipping.  I had a start of a weird migraine Thursday night and took my medicine to make sure it didn't get worse.  And Friday I woke up and started getting dressed and felt so nauseous.  I decided that it wasn't a good idea to run, so I went back to bed for another hour and ended up working from home.

Saturday - The mother of all runs.  This was the slowest and hottest run I have ever done in my life.  The only thing I have to compare this run too was the Rock 'n Roll Virginia Beach run two years ago.  The planned run was 13 miles and we started right around 6:30 AM when it was already 75 degrees.  The first 5 miles were good.  I purposefully took the start slow cause I was afraid I would bonk at the end with the heat.  In one of the very few downhills we got, we ran the finish line to the Richmond Marathon (Half & 8k).  While I've done the 8k a few times, it was the memory of my first half that came to me as I ran down that hill.

Only if this were the finish on Saturday

By mile 7 the wheels started coming off my run.  We had several steep long hills to run up - well walk up for me.  Long parts of the course was in the direct sunlight which was my downfall.

Hills, Hills, and more Hills

We had 3 SAGs along the route and I was so grateful for all of them.  I had to refill my water bottles every time.  I couldn't believe there were some that elected to run without anything and relied on just the SAGs.  I ran through the few sprinklers that were out there, but there were not many out.  It got to the point where I couldn't run in the direct sun, it was just too exhausting.  I ran when I could in the shade, even if it was just a few steps with shade from a tree.

When I got back to the stadium, my group coach said that they were about to send someone looking for me.  Apparently I was the last one back out of the two groups and I started in the earlier one, though the last few ahead of me were not that far ahead.  When I was done, I looked at the temperature and it was 89 degrees with the heat index reading 97 degrees.  I have never run when it was that hot out before and it truly sucked.  As one of the coaches said before we started to not let this run dictate how our training has been going.  I just have to remember that.

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.