18 Hot Miles

This weekend, my training plan called for a 20 mile run. I’ve been dreading it ever since I got back from vacation. I was overly optimistic about the amount of running I’d be doing in Toronto while staying at my mom’s. Her place is near a park and I figured it’d be easy for me to keep on track and continue with my training. I did not take into account the heat and humidity of the East Coast (you poor folks!) and all the baked goods my mom would be feeding us (she hardly baked when I was growing up, so this is a fairly new occurrence to impress her favorite son-in-law.) Since there was no way I could run 14 miles in the hot weather while stuffed with apple pie, I decided to focus on the speed training and spent a few days doing 5 mile intervals on the treadmill instead:

• 1 mile warm up at 6.0-6.5 mph
• 0.5 mile at 7.5 mph
• 0.25 mile walking at 4.2 mph
• Repeat 4 times
• 1 mile cool down at 6.0 – 6.5 mph

When I returned to my usual Thursday marathon training class + 7 mile run, it was clear that the short 5 mile runs were not nearly enough to keep my body in shape. I was stiff and surprisingly sore. Even though I have not run for awhile, my hamstrings were super tight. I still finished the 7 miles (an added bonus of not driving to the gym – can’t bail on the run, as I need a way to get back), and spent the next 2 days with a foam roller and in my hot yoga studio (but not at the same time). Luckily, Courtney, my trainer, offered to run 20 miles with me on Saturday, otherwise I might have shortened the distance. We ran slow (10 – 11 min/mile) as it was a hot day (by 9:30 it was already 77 degrees). You’d think with all the hot yoga I’ve been doing, my body would handle heat better, but it still gets sluggish whenever it’s over 70.

We stopped by Courtney’s secret spot for a stretch break.

Once we hit a 3 hour mark, we were both starving and decided to skip the last 2 miles and run directly to Gyro World where Eric met us for lunch.

I ate my salad first (I have successfully finished the Attack phase of the Dukan diet, so veggies were allowed on Saturday), then chicken, and I only had 1 slice of whole wheat pita (a tiny cheat in my books ).

I felt great after the run and the recovery meal. My legs were tired, but not hurting at all (unlike after Thursday’s 7 miles). Even though I did not do the planned 20 miles as I was supposed to, I am pretty happy with the 18 mile push, which brings me one step closer to the full 26.2 in less than a month.

For dinner, I was craving salmon (good thing we live in Seattle where fresh Salmon is a commodity).

Seasoned and ready to go

Baked to perfection and sprinkled with parmesan (I guess this counts as another cheat since parmesan is not on the list of allowed Dukan diet foods but with 20 calories per tsp, I consider it a seasoning )

Served on a giant bed of spinach, bell pepper, cucumber, green onions

The Attack phase was extremely effective as I dropped over 3lbs in 3 days. Now I am “cruising” for the next couple of days before heading out to a work conference in Orange County, where I will try my hardest to do a couple of protein only days. Wish me luck!

[Jane Asks]: Do you have any coping strategies for running long distances in the heat?