I’m pretty enthusiastic and positive about running, but that doesn’t mean it’s all good, all the time. It’s not. Sometimes when I have a bad run, I feel like a hypocritical failure because I write an upbeat running blog but there I am, standing on the side of the road a mile in, wishing I was home on the deck with my kindle and a glass of lemonade.
The heat and humidity have been brutal lately, and I actually gave up two miles into a run that was supposed to be nine miles. It was 85 degrees, sunny and 90 percent humidity. I was uncomfortable at a standstill, let alone running! I was not real happy with myself, but I was less happy with the thought of continuing to run.
Spring and fall are much more enjoyable times to be running, but I’m supposed to be at the peak of my training for this half marathon during July and August. That means I have to cut myself some slack and slow down to accommodate the weather, or I need to get some great movies lined up to watch while I’m on the treadmill.
After giving up on my long run last week, I decided to take an unplanned recovery week. The heat wave had sucked all my enjoyment out of running, and my half marathon in September left me feeling trapped into a training plan that didn’t take the weather into account. I was tired of using all my baby-sitter hours running, and never getting a chance to just sit and relax.
A few days off and no long run this week has made me feel better, given me the chance to miss running, and reminded me that this is all optional. I can be flexible, I have a few months before that half marathon. Better to take a break when I’m mentally drained than to push through and burn out.
That said, I’m a little nervous about my lack of internal drive to keep going when I’m out there and it starts getting hot. I’m thinking that sometime soon I may drive nine miles from my house, lock my keys in the car, and run home so I have no option but to keep going. Greg can bring me back to get the car later. I’ll put a little Gnarls Barkley “Crazy” on my running playlist, and think of it as a great adventure!
Now that sounds kind of fun.
Let you know how it goes….
I hear ya. About a week and a half ago, we had a tremendous heatwave (temps in the 100s). One morning I woke up early to run but I had slept so poorly because of the heat and it was already hot and I was soooo tired. I whined to my husband that I just wanted to go back to bed and he suggested I do just that and if it cooled down enough in the evening at dusk, he’d ride his bike with me on my run. Unfortunately, it was STILL hot that evening so I ran on the treadmill in the A/Ced house. I discovered I run differently on the treadmill so I cut my run a little short as to not injure anything.
Autumn is coming!