Week 2 - Heat Wave

The midweek runs were pretty easy. I practically sprinted a couple of the days, but the long run was hardest for the obvious reasons, plus a couple of others.

I came home Friday night and instead of just going to bed and making sure I got up early enough to have enough time to eat and at least partially digest the food, I finished up Twilight. I only had 80 pages left, so I couldn't help myself. I would have just woken up later and left later, but the biggest problem was making sure that I got out before all of the heat would settle in, especially with Southern Cal in the midst of a heat wave.

So I woke up late, but I still wanted to make sure I wasn't running on an empty stomach and I had to make sure I got some water in me too. Eating, drinking, and getting some time to digest meant that I would end up running when the shadows are the shortest. It had to be in the mid-upper 90's during my run, but I cannot express enough gratitude for living in an affluent neighborhood and having the last quarter of my run shaded by the imported mature trees in the new community developments blocking me from much of the scorching sun.

It was pretty hard, but I attribute it mostly to running on a mostly full stomach and it being so flippin' hot. There was one stoplight near the end that was just a little too welcome. I yearned for the wait like Edward yearns for Bella's blood. Yeah...I just used that simile. I was pretty pleased when I finished up to see that I finished my 7.2 mile course in exactly 1 hour. I held back in the beginning and I think that helped me to finish up in the end. The longer these Saturday runs get, the more I'm beginning to realize that the battle is much more mental than it is physical.

I know my body can get from point A to B, even if there are 26 miles in between, but it's hard to make sure my legs are still moving and that I keep putting one foot in front of the other. I was reading somewhere about how after 10 miles the efficiency of motion begins to rapidly decline for runners, but I was really starting to feel that just in this last run, which barely covers a fourth of the full marathon distance. I noticed my arms beginning to swing from side to side rather than front to back, and I was running more and more on the outsides of my feet. It was weird actually having to concentrate on making sure my steps went from heel to toe, that my arms didn't just sway loosely, and that I didn't slow too much anywhere.

I don't have any specific aches and pains. My right arch was a little bit tender towards the end of the run, but nothing really besides that. I guess I shouldn't be so amazed at how much I've progressed already - I am mostly referring to how little soreness I've experienced, especially in my shins and lower back - but I guess I just wasn't as in shape as I thought I was. I imagine as the distances get longer it will be really hard to maintain a good running posture. I should probably do some more core exercises to make sure that doesn't become too much of a problem.

I don't think I want to run without music anymore. Or even audiobooks. I need to get a running companion Ipod stat.