more running than lifting

Thurs:  75ish minute run mostly in the forest.  We did the loop the other way for the first time.  Changing direction made less of a difference than I thought it would: the intersections looked much more familiar than I was expecting, and the hills were manageable.  The worst part was the softness of the sand in parts.  We need some rain!

My legs felt like crap for the most part, and then near the end of the loop, I realized that, thanks to the cooler weather, I was perhaps moving more quickly than I'd expected.  It turned out to be the case.  We did the loop in 50 minutes.   This is an expanded loop from the 50 minute one this past weekend.  It helped to have cooler weather today.

This has inspired thoughts of tempo runs.  It's been ages since my last one; I can't think of a more miserable type of run in hot weather.  Even long slow runs are more comfortable.  Anyway, I'm considering moving my tempo runs to the forest.  This will require some fancier footwork, but I think it would be fun, and I could definitely keep my heart rate jacked up, which is the point of the exercise.  And I wouldn't have any interruptions from cars.

Umpteen hours later, I biked with groceries.  I must remember to weight my right pannier more than the left (they should be equal, of course, but sometimes that's impossible.  Anyway, I have this lovely long downhill on the way home, with a curve to the left near the bottom, and I started getting the wobbles once I leaned in.

And then, legs!  And failure!  My benchmark for the clean, set last leg day, was too high.  I was too tired, too biked out, and my strength and energy drop during afternoons.  I went to clean and, failure!   I paced, recollected my thoughts, etc, went to clean and, failure!  Worse than the first failure, too.  I stitched things back together with ten pounds lighter.

Fri: dug in the backyard.

Sat: 2 hr quasi-tempo run.  The weather felt great and we picked up speed on the road leading to the forest.   The first loop: 45-46 minutes.  The dog started to drag on the 2nd: 46-47 minutes.  It felt a bit hard at times, but seeing the path roll under my feet more quickly than usual was a thrill.  And it felt good to stretch out my stride.   It was a tough run, though!  I didn't do weights, I just dug some more.

Sun: 2:25 run.  I was tired!  The weather was reasonable, 21 C and supposedly not humid, but it was surprisingly damp in the forest after a night of rain.  My husband and the dog ran with me for the first loop, and then I did the second alone.  Fatigue had a disassociating effect by that point.  I managed to keep my feet up and I didn't trip once, but I was on auto-pilot, periodically returning to trails that looked foreign and strange.  It was an odd run, and fulfilled the purpose of back-to-back longer runs very well.  The point is to run tired.  Too bad I wussed out of a third loop, but I hadn't brought any gels.

oh, yeah, we tested the dog on the route--we dropped back whenever we got to an intersection and let him tell us where to go.  This was a bit confusing for him, not because he didn't remember the new loop, but because there were a few places where we used to turn another way, and he's not used to being in charge.  However, he got the first few right, and he accepted dropping back beside us after the intersections...altogether, he did very well.  The only one he got wrong was part of the old loop.  We've never done this before, and I don't want him to get into the habit of choosing, but it was a good mental exercise for him.  He was very polite about indicating the right direction too.  My husband remarked that he (the dog), would turn his head for the left turns, but veer with his body for the right turns.  At any rate, he didn't pull.

Unfortunately, I failed to tap into a more relaxed feeling--my breathing was slightly more elevated than I wanted--but the warmth and humidity withdrew my lowest gear.  It was disappointing to return to the summer stress, but I suppose this has toughened me up for the tough 2-hour run the day before.

Then I did arm/chest exercises, 2 sets.  I was tired but didn't drop anything on myself.  I suppose that my slackening of weight workouts this past week foreshadowed the inevitable: as my runs intensify, the weights will suffer.