Sunday, August 15, 2010

30:30, 10.94, 115, 18

Why all the numbers? You'll see. This post is all about the statistics, I suppose. First and foremost, my baby boy is 18 months old today. Time sure flies! Last year, when he was 6 months, we celebrated in our neighborhood pool. Here are some pics:

My sweet, round-faced 6-month-old bundle of joy. No teeth yet!

Floating with Mommy in the water. He wasn't too sure about that wet stuff.

Today, at 18 months, Isaac finally has an interest in books (other than just trying to eat them). To continue the tradition, we "celebrated" at the pool (since, hopefully, our days in this neighborhood are numbered).

My boy is big! And Mr. Water Splasher!

I admit; I give this look ALL the time. That's "the Susan."

Water fun with Daddy. Isaac is Daddy's favorite toy, and the feeling is mutual.

18 months old with 14 teeth! I can't begin to explain how much I love that smile.

On to the running and the rest of the numbers. Since I "petered out" on my 23-miler a few weeks ago, I didn't figure I should zoom ahead and do 26 this week (per the schedule). In all honesty, I aimed to hit 20 and call it a night. 23 would be a bonus, and 26 would qualify as a miracle. It was to be stinkin' hot all weekend, so Friday night was as good a time as any. Guess what the heat index was at 9 PM? 115 degrees! Yep - but like I said, it was not going to get any better all weekend, so I had to at least try to run.

It started off wonderfully. I used the 30:30 method (walk 30 seconds, run 30 seconds). I was cruising along like nobody's business. My Garmin beeped every 30 seconds and it was no problem.

At approximately 9 miles in, I began to realize that everything I was wearing was SOAKED. I mean 100% saturated with sweat. Down to my socks. And underthings. And compression shorts. And shoes. Yep - chafing and blisters were on their way (I could feel it brewing). Jeez - if it ain't one thing, it's ten! I decided to head home and call it a night. Even changing shorts and socks wouldn't be good enough because my shoes were soaked. I logged 10.94 miles in 90 degree weather with the heat index at 115, which Chasen called "epic." I was more of the mindset of "failure" and "disappointing," but whatever.

Am I EVER going to get a break from this heat? Seriously. This is what my car said today as we went grocery shopping:


Needless to say, I am worried about Chicago. Granted, I logged a 20-miler about 6 weeks ago, but that would be 14 weeks pre-race. Yikes! Some people say this "heat training" counts for extra, but I just don't know what I believe. I'll just do the best I can.

3 comments:

Tammy said...

Your shoes were soaked? Wow..I thought I sweat alot..hehe...How did the 30/30 work for you? Do you think you were able to go faster? I think one thing that I am struggling with in the galloway method is, I think somehow, mentally, I "make up" for my walking breaks by doing my running intervals faster...which dosen't that defeat the purpose of "keeping the legs fresh"? I don't know how I can make myself stop doing this...aghh..

Jacky said...

Susan, first off, congrats on Isaac's 18 months! Time sure flies, tell me, LOL!
I think you're doing AWESOME, running in the heat is very hard and you're doing it... CONGRATULATIONS! As you said, you do the best you can and that's it... I'm sure there'll be a few times to attemp those distances before Chicago and it will already be a bit cooler. Enjoy the ride!
Just keep going, do whatever you can, please ERASE dissapointment and failure from your "very own" dictionary... you're a champ!
Go Susan Go!

Jacky

ShirleyPerly said...

Susan, sorry for the late comment (just not reading blogs much any more). But I wanted to say that your experience with being soaked down to the shoes is quite typical for me even after just 5 miles. FWIW, The only thing I would suggest is to be prepared for it ahead of time as much as possible. Much as you probably would before going out to run in the rain, use extra body glide in all areas where you might experience chafing (for me: feet, betw, thighs, waist band area, jog bra, underarms). Avoid cotton fabrics and I actually avoid wearing loose clothing in general as they seem to move around and chafe more when wet, esp. baggy shorts. Nowadays I usually wear tri tops & shorts when I run. They are designed to be worn wet and seem to work best whether you're soaked from the swim, sweat, rain, etc. Compression shorts should also work if you don't need the lil bike seat pad most tri shorts have built-in.