10 miles in the heat

So this past weekend/week we had a heat advisory in the DC area, with the heat index registering temps of 115. Yuck! Of course given my luck, I needed to put in a long run this weekend to stay on track with my training plan. I debated whether or not to do it on Saturday or hold off until Sunday when the temperatures were supposed to be cooler, but it was also my birthday that day and I really didn't want to wake up early to run. In the end I decided to go with Saturday so I could go ahead and get it over with.

Saturday morning I popped up at 5am and was out the door at 5:20ish, to set out. I was a little hesitant about running on the Mount Vernon trail that early and by myself, but there were tons of people out and about running, walking and cycling. I have never seen so many people out that early in the morning exercising.

My route took me down King Street to the Potomac river and I followed the Mount Vernon trail to the Regan airport before turning back. It was a really great route and reminded me a bit of being on the C&O canal. I was running by the water, in the trees and even through a swampy marsh area, which I definitely did not expect (pics below).

The run was definitely cooler than I thought it was going to be, partially because it was so early and partially because there were so many trees. Some people say that when you run, you are competing against yourself, but Saturday I was competing with the elements, especially the sun. I was at about mile seven when I saw the sun start to rise and knew that I didn't have too much time before it started to warm up. That was definitely the motivation I needed to keep going and even pick up my pace a little bit.

All in all it was a really great run and a perfect way to end my 23rd year. Looking forward to this week's long run! Also, I thought it might be nice to include some pictures from my run, but apologies for the blurriness of some of them as they were all taken from the iphone while running. 

Below on the left is the Potomac on my way out on the trail and in the distance you can see the blur of the US Capitol. On the right is the unexpected marsh I encountered. In the center below

is a close up of the hibiscus that seem to be growing in the marsh. I admit I was a nerd and had to call my mom to see if they were actually hibiscus, because I have never heard of them growing in swamps.

You Know It's Hot When...

You run by the Potomac and you think it looks like a cool and refreshing place for a swim.

It feels like you stepped into a sauna at 5:45am...isn't it supposed to be cool out then?

You come back from a 4 mile run and it looks like you got caught in a rainstorm.

You can't keep your sunglasses on your nose because it's so sweaty they keep slipping off.

Welcome to DC where the temperatures have been in the high 90s low 100s all week.

Mexico

As promised here are some pics that were taken during my vacation in Tulum. If anyone is thinking about going, I would definitely recommend it. Beautiful beaches, great snorkeling, ruins and cenotes. Here's the beach at Akumal, where we went snorkeling with sea turtles and checked out some reefs. Literally all you have to do is put your snorkel gear on and go out to see the turtles and that was probably one of my all time coolest experiences. There were also tons of fish and different kinds of corals for us to check out and even a barracuda!

To the right is a picture from the cenote we checked out. A cenote is basically an underwater cave filled with staglmites/tites and even some fish. The water was a lot colder than the beach but it was pretty incredible. Also, try not to be too jealous of my orange "flotation device." It's considered very fashionable at the cenotes.

Below are some pictures from the old Mayan ruins at Tulum. Back in the day Tulum was a bustling port town that was an important stop over for trading merchants in the Gulf of Mexico. If you think about all of the storms this place has seen, it is pretty incredible how intact many of the ruins are. There are also a ton of iguanas, so if they aren't your thing (ahem BF), consider yourself warned.

Hola Mexico

So I've been a little MIA this past week on the blog and that's because I was in Mexico for the past 6 days enjoying a little R&R. I brought my running stuff because I thought I might be ambitious enough to run while on vacation, but alas I didn't. I did however make up for the lack of running with all the swimming I did. Swimming in the pool, swimming in the ocean, snorkeling with the sea turtles and snorkeling in the cenote.

Time to get back on track with the training plan! I'll post some pictures of the trip later, but rest assured I wasn't a complete slacker.

Hello New Shoes

I'm no Imelda Marcos, but I do love me a good pair of new shoes. As I mentioned earlier it was time for new shoes. Not that I don't love New Balance shoes, but this particular style just wasn't made for the kind of training I needed to do in them.

Before going to look at shoes in person I did some online research to see what kinds of shoes were out there. Last year I trained in the Pearl Izumi Synchrofuel. The shoes were great and I never got a single blister, but they were a little too firm in the heel. I also like to change things up and see if maybe there is a better shoe out there for me. So after reading the Runner's World 2011 Summer Shoe guide to get some ideas, I headed down to Pacer's in Old Town Alexandria and wow were they helpful. I walked right in and was immediately helped. I told them what I was training for and what I had trained in before and in 5 minutes they brought me three different shoes to start off with. I also got some more information about the Synchrofuels that I didn't know, such as their lack of seams is why I didn't get any blisters.

Anywho, I tried on three different shoes, one made by Brooks, one by Saucony and one by New Balance. Some people need to try out a bunch of different shoes and jog a bit in them before they make a decision. I am not one of those people. After taking a walk to the door and doing a bit of jogging in place I knew which shoe was for me. Ultimately I went with the Brooks Ravenna 2, which also had the added bonus of having bright blue laces (my favorite color). The shoes felt extremely comfortable and light and I loved the way they felt when I ran. I've done some runs in them and I am in love. Below is a quick pic I snapped of the shoes before a run, but the poor lighting doesn't do them justice (although aren't the blue laces soo pretty!) I will try to snap some more later on that capture their awesomeness.

Running Partner Out of Commission

It's going to be a lonely couple of weeks without my favorite bird dog running with me. Hoot had to go to the vet on Friday to get a couple of things snipped and it turns out he's not allowed to run for the next two weeks! However, he's enjoying his downtime eating puppy pops (think ice cream for dogs) and rocking his cool new clothes. Personally I think with the green bandages and purple tank top he looks like he belongs in a Richard Simmon's workout video...

And no, he's not embarrassed about the tank top. It definitely beats the awkward cone collar that he would otherwise have to wear to keep him from licking his stitches. In fact I'm pretty sure the other dogs on the block are a little jealous of his style...

Long Run Fail

Not just fail, epic fail. I admit I was a little nervous about this week's long run as I haven't run 10 miles since 2010, but I was looking forward to the challenge. Saturday night I was like a kid before the first day of school. I laid out my new running shoes (more on those later), spread out my GU Gels so I could have my pick of what flavor I wanted pre run and during, and laid out my shorts and water belt. I set my alarm for 5:30 and it was off to sleep.

Well wouldn't you know at about 5:20am I was jolted out of my sleep by loud booms of thunder and flashes of lightening. Soon that was followed by a torrential downpour that lasted at least until 6:15am when I decided to go back to bed because I assumed it wasn't going to stop anytime soon. I'm not hardcore enough to run in a thunderstorm, especially on a trail I don't know. Needless to say I was bummed missing my run, but figured it was ok because I would try to tackle it Monday morning. Oh and for those of you wondering, no, I didn't try running 10 miles at 9am with 95% humidity when the rain had stopped.

Attempt number 2: 5:30 Monday morning rolls around earlier than I want, but I get up and get dressed and notice that I wasn't really feeling great. I tried to walk it off and keep getting ready in hopes that it was just a little morning sluggishness, but my stomach wasn't 100% and I was feeling ridiculously warm (like I had run 3 miles warm). My handy dandy thermometer happened to be close by so to convince myself that it was just morning sluggishness I took my temp for grins. Turns out I had a 100 degree temp...not what I was hoping for. Once again I was thwarted in my efforts to tackle the long run and went back to bed (I ended up sleeping most of Monday, so I guess I was a little sick). Luckily by Monday night my temperature was back down to normal so at least I was ready to tackle week two of training.

The long run situation was certainly not expected nor ideal, but sometimes these shenanigans happen. Hopefully that's my only setback with my training (although I know I won't be doing my 11 mile run in Mexico this weekend), but you have to deal with these things as they come.

Week One of Training

So week one is well underway and so far so good. I already modified the plan a little because I took Monday as a rest day after overdoing it on weights on Sunday. Tuesday's run was a little slow because I was still stiff from weights and it was a little warmer since I ran after work (I know, I know I said I would never do that again...). Wednesday my legs were tired, but I ran with Hoot and he was definitely not feeling sluggish again. I did my Tuesday-Thursday runs with the Hootster because Friday he was going in to get snipped (if you catch my drift) and I knew I would be out a running partner for at least a week or so. I might have been feeling sluggish, but he couldn't be more excited to be out running. Today is my cross training day so looking forward to doing some yoga and cycling.

The only real downside to the week thus far are my shoes. I'm not running long distances but my shoes are tearing up my feet ie blisters the size of quarters. No bueno. Looks like I will have to look into some new shoes because the thought of running 10 miles in my current ones terrifies me.