Warm Morning

Today's run was interesting.

I didn't feel much like going out.  I had a notion yesterday that I would start running in the mornings when I could, but when the alarm went off at 5, I thought better of that notion and slept in.  The plan this morning was to take Quin to school for his last day, stay at home until it was time to pick up him up at 10:45, and then take both of the kids over to the movies near Joan's work where I would drop them off and head on up to my office.

After getting home from dropping Quin off at school, I decided it would be good if I took an hour out of the late morning to get my run in.  I was likely to be short on time once at work.  So I suited up, took my time, and didn't get out the door until 9:30. (In all fairness to me, I did have to take care of some work email first, so it's not like I was completely procrastinating.)

The truth is, though, that I just wasn't super motivated.  I was stiffer from the bootcamp session yesterday than I thought I'd be; but that's no excuse really.  I just needed to get moving.

When I stepped out of the door, I was surprised to find how warm it had gotten so quickly.  It's 9:30, but it was probably nearing 80F already, here in our inland microclimate region.  I'm sure the coastal temps were cooler, but there was no marine layer overhead and the sun was blazing.  I went back in for my hat and sunglasses.

I set off very slowly, using the first 1/4 mile to warm up, including the early hill on 4S Ranch Pkwy. I thought I was slower than this, but my 1st mile time was 8:20.  I wasn't sure what kind of workout I wanted to do.  All I knew was that I had time for about 6-7 miles.

I tried to pay little attention to my watch.  Instead, I settled into a heart rate training session, trying to run to keep my HR below 147-148 or so...except on hills when I'd allow it to climb +10.  There's a long incline along El Camino Del Norte to mile 2.3 or so, and once cresting that, I eased off and tried to glide.  I felt okay, but I was getting winded and sweating pretty heavily.  The air was warm, but there was enough of a breeze to keep it from feeling stifling.

I reached the trail head at Oak Valley MS, feeling like I was racing too much still.  I hadn't let my HR come back down from the 150s.  I was starting to feel fatigued, and I'd only gone 4 miles.  (No water.)

A girl on a mountain bike passed me, and then I caught up to her on a gentle grade where she had begun to labor.  Once going downhill, she coasted off and I continued to plod along, now resigned to running at HR=153-158.

On the Black Mountain Rd fire road, I began to push it a little, figuring this was the last hard part.  I caught up with and passed the biker on the steepest section, and at the top my HR read 171.  Okay...this was no aerobic jog.

The rest is flat or downhill, and I reached home after 6.5 miles in 53:15.  I felt pretty spent.  My pace wasn't all that fast, but I was sweating profusely and it took a minute for my HR to relax to 110 or so.

I can't say for certain why this run was harder than I thought it should be.  I could be still in recovery mode from the marathon.  Or else, I'm not factoring in the effects of the heat.  Even though it's relatively mild, I'm just not used to temps getting up into the 80s.  It felt a lot like the air temp (with bright sun) during the marathon from around mile 16 or so, so perhaps the heat DID have a major role to play in my cramping.  I ran today at around an 8:20 clip, but it would have been really hard to sustain that for 13 miles or more.  I was pretty much done at 6.5.  Give me that pace in the cool of the morning or in a climate-controlled setting, and I'm fine.  Ramp up the heat, and I've got to be aware that entering the equation.