Friday, October 29, 2010

Face the Facts….

1) Its hot

2) It’s humid

3) I can’t just walk out my front door and run anymore.

I am not a happy camper. This weather has been redonkulous. I cannot believe YOU people (you know who you are) run in this, and WORSE, all summer long!  Seriously, it is October and I am dying! How do you do it? It was high 80’s yesterday and humid when I set out for 5 miles. And I mean humid like you walk outside and immediately start to just melt.  I drained my water bottle before I hit my 2 mile mark. That was bad since I was doing a 2.5 mile out and back.

I decided to check out the road outside of my neighborhood. There is a loop that connects to the main road and it is a little over 6 miles from my house all the way around. I decided to run 2.5 out and back and check out part of the loop.  I thought it would be an ideal place to run. NOT. Cars fly by! There are curves that are blind to the driver so I couldn’t run on the shoulder, which was seriously only about 3 inches wide. I had to run in the grass on the curvy parts so that cars wouldn’t plow me over and turn me in to roadkill. And to top it off the cars that did pass me looked at me like I was an alien or had horns or something. And it was so isolated, even with the occasional car or truck zooming by I felt like if someone stopped or even hit me I would lie in the ditch for hours before anyone would find me. At least The Hubs new I was out running. I had strict instructions to text him when I left and when I got back. The culture around here is just so different from what I am used to .

This was posted on my FB page from RED (miss her!),  a native North Carolinian:

Be safe and let someone know when you get home safe! There are some CRAZY Rednecks out there. Watch out for Monster Trucks, crotch-rockets ridden by men in camo with neon belts, and beat-up clunkers with no mufflers, or soup-ed up Hot Rods and muscle-cars with deranged maniac drivers suffering from PTSD.

I’m not sure if I will be doing that again any time soon.

And lastly, I took two and a half weeks off after Portland. I have been trying to look at my plan and figure out how to best continue my training for Vegas. I pretty much just took my last 6 weeks of Portland training and decided to repeat it…

Oct 26-28 2010 001

The problem is that I have to do 18 miles tomorrow (which my friend Breaking Pace said she would ride her bike alongside me!!). I’m not sure if I am up to 18 miles. My body is so fatigued. So I am trying to figure out what to do, how to continue my training. Anyone have any suggestions?  For my long runs I was thinking I could just increase doing 14, 16, 18 taper. Or 15, 18, 20 taper….with no step backs. I have no idea but I need to figure it out!

P.S. I don’t want to offend any of my North Carolina bloggy readers! I just live in the country and this is so different from the city streets I used to run in Tacoma. I’m sure I will find a sense of normalcy soon!

18 comments:

  1. YOu get use to the sweating! I love to sweat when I run! I mowed the lawn the other day just to sweat since I am out from running for a few weeks! It is going to get really nice here this week! Hang in there!

    I would listen to your body. It knows how to run a marathon and if you take it easier these next few weeks I think that it would be more beneficial then running while tired. You have a lot going on...take it easy!

    I hope you find a good place to run. I run in my neighborhood and it is slightly hilly but somewhat safe...there is always that idiot driver who is texting and not paying attention.

    Where is the running club at? I didn't know there was one. Checked out some races...a few in Dec and then there is the Tobacco road marathon/half in march! That is my goal once the ankle is back to normal.

    Hang in there! :)

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  2. I think you should try and get a 20 miler in but that's just me. See how you feel tomorrow and aim for 15 and then if you feel alright, push it for another 3 miles. Because what's another 3 miles when you've already done 15?

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  3. I hope I get used to it!! It seems to be sucking the life out of me! =)

    There is a site called Meetup and I think if you google Fayetteville Running Club it will come up.

    Hope your ankle gets better soon! It is no fun being down and out!

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  4. i agree, living in miami has definitely changed how i think about running!

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  5. give it some time - your body will acclimate and you'll find some training partners & routes. listen to your body, too! you've been going through a lot with the move. if you need a little more rest, be gentle about getting those miles in. you know you can run Vegas (think of how nice & dry it will be in comparison!), you just gotta stay healthy in the meantime :) have a happy halloween!

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  6. The heat and humidity take a toll until you get used to it. I HATE summer in NC and I have lived here almost my whole life. I have only been running for a couple years and it took me about a month to adapt to the heat this summer. I can't wait for the cooler temps to stay!

    Your friend is absolutely right about the crazy drivers. They are everywhere. I live in suburbia and have to watch out for the mom's in minivans. They are the worst.

    I have to agree with listening to your body with your long run. See how you feel and if you can push it a bit, go for it.

    Good luck!

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  7. Sounds like the transition to NC running has been a little bumpy. As an NC resident, there is definitely no offense taken. It's an interesting mix of demographics, which varies greatly depending on where in the state you are. The closer you get to the suburbs the fewer NC natives you'll find, but even in the suburbs you'll still find scattered pockets of rural NC that have managed to hold on.

    For what it's worth, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were freakishly humid for this time of year. I ran both days and it felt like we were back in August. Cooler temps and much lower humidity are coming in today, most likely to stay until the Spring. Fair warning, once Spring/Summer rolls around, the humidity is no joke. Like Alma says, you get used to it after a bit, but it's jarring as you transition from cold-weather to warm-weather training.

    Hope you're getting settled in well otherwise. Moving is always tumultuous.

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  8. I'm a native of Tacoma and would still prefer the hot and humid... I'm having a tough time getting out in the rain and cold, perhaps its because I'm new to this...

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  9. It's hot here too, I think in the low 90's today, but at least we aren't humid! That would totally suck! The only tips I have are:

    -Maybe running earlier, we have cool mornings so its worth getting up early! (Don't know if your mornings are cool or not, just an thought)
    -Drink a lot the day before, when I first started running down here I would drink a whole 16oz of water in the first mile of the run! Now I don't bring water on anything less than 5. (It will get easier)
    -I have to run in the ghetto and/or around farms, I have no solution for crappy conditions! I think that 90% of the people down here can't drive... they are either insanely old or don't have they have a drivers license.

    I hope that you can find a balance. Good luck on those long runs!

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  10. The weather has been warm here too, which is crazy for Oct. in Colorado! Hopefully it will get cooler for you soon!
    Why don't you do 16, 18, 20, then taper??

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  11. welcome to NC....the land of the hot and humid. i absolutely hate our summer weather, this summmer was ridiculous!!! i was hoping you would bring some of the pacific northwest weather with you when you came :)

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  12. Sorry for the humidity...I'm dealing with snow. I'm thinking about Vegas...I've been debating between that and California International on the same day. It would be fun to meet up!

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  13. stay safe girl! i am sure everything will fall into place for Vegas!! HUGS!

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  14. I hear you.. when I moved to rural VA, I had the same issues. What helped me was to start meeting with the local running club, they showed my great running routes and especially safer areas! Good luck!!!

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  15. Come back!! The Racey Hoes miss you.. Ummm so the more you talk about this place, sounds less and less appealing to visit.. Hehehe Oh Vegas, I wish I was in shape and had fundage to travel..

    Running 10 miles on the Orting trail tomorrow...wish you were there!!

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  16. I feel for you. I was totally freaked out when I moved here (CT) a year ago from Madison, Wi in the midst of marathon training. Totally different. The curvy roads w/ no shoulder... ugh! You will find routes that you can run on. In the mean time start to convert your wardrobe to the neon variety!!!

    The humidity.. you can't avoid it.. you just have to adjust. For the heat run earlier.. it's the only way.

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  17. oh.. and like someone else mentioned.. hydrate hydrate hydrate when you aren't running..you've got to stay on top of it.

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You're pretty much awesome!!

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