Trying to “rush acclimate”

I’m stupid. I know.  We FINALLY got sun today.  It’s been a week. A weird June, to be sure, and beginning of July. By this time last year, Lis and I were so used to sweating like farm animals while training with TNT.  (I can see Lis right now, clearing her throat, saying “ahem, Terri, it was only YOU who sweated like a farm animal, I just tried to make sure I didn’t kill myself by falling in the sweat puddles you left behind.”) Sorry, Lis. It was only me.

My biggest fear for next week’s Boilermaker is no longer the monster incline (which I’ve nicknamed THE BEAST) between miles 3 and 4. It’s that it’ll be a million degrees and humid out, as it usually is in upstate NY.  When I first signed up, I just figured I’d be acclimated by then.  However, there’s been this really freaky weather pattern that has found its way over Boston and New England for the past several weeks. It’s felt like springtime, as in early April, all last month.  Let me make this abundantly clear. Last night, when I walked into the convenience store, around 9ish, a guy walked out in long pants, shirt and  fleece. July 3rd. That just ain’t right.

Other bloggers out there are saying it’s 100 degrees where they live, and that they have drought conditions.  My husband picked up our welcome mat off of our deck to put it in the sun to dry out.  He said that water literally ran out of it.  (Guess that’s why it’s started to grow weeds this week.)

So today seemed like the perfect time to go for a run at noon, right? Hey, nobody said I always had common sense every day. I was supposed to do 4-6 mile repeats. Note I said “supposed to.”  Did I forget to mention my Flovent steroid inhaler just ran out on me, and my doctor’s office was closed, so my pharmacy couldn’t contact them for more?  Ah yeah. I can be a dummy sometimes.

I did the first interval just fine. 8:15.  Second one, not so good. More like 9ish, and with walking involved. I know, I know, not supposed to happen.  That brought me back home.

Then, I realized I could run laps around my block, which is about .45 around. I did that 4 times for a total of 2 more miles. That was it. I couldn’t take it any more. At least the .5 mile repeats I did I was able to consistently speed up, to 4 minutes per .5 miles.

Tomorrow, I am getting up before the butt crack of dawn, and leaving the house by around 5:30 or 5:45. Why?  My running group, the Merrimack Valley Striders, is hosting a 4th of July race.  I volunteered to help with registration before thinking of how early I’d have to be there. There’s a 2K, a 5K, and a 10K.  The 2K is for the kids, of course. I’m taking tomorrow off from running, and then doing my long run on Sunday instead.

On a completely unrelated matter, I just got the older version of the iPhone.  My employer gets a 10% discount on the monthly plan! SWEET!

So now I just have to figure out what the apps are for Twitter.  I hope to not get addicted to my phone, but people  tell me I just might.  I like the fact that there’s a map feature, as I usually can get lost driving in places with which I’m not familiar.  By the way, for those of you who read this blog, and want to follow me on Twitter, feel free to do so. I’ve got my updates protected for now (was getting sick of all the porn followers and the like), but if I can tell you’re a real person and not someone just trying to sell me something, I’ll likely accept you.  My name is “middlepackgirl.”

Have a great 4th everyone!

Photo by BL1961, flickr.com

 

Tuesday Indoor Track, #8 (already?)

Right Track, by Janusz L,from Flickr.com

I kind of like this different take on a “track” above, don’t you?

As I was making my bacon,egg, and cheese sandwich on an english muffin tonight after my workout (don’t judge, I’m more like a rabid animal than a human after these things, so guard your small children and pets, don’t let them cross my path), it occurred to me – Tuesday Indoor Track abbreviated spells TIT.  So I mentioned this to my husband, who promptly yelled out “you said TIT!” and then started giggling like a teenager.   He’s been alone all evening, I had to give him something to giggle about. 

Oh, and I’m not done eating. I’ve also had my  whey protein mix mixed in with milk (skim), and now I might make up some peanut butter crackers with chocolate chips on them. (Tuesdays, I don’t get a real dinner, it’s more like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a Campbell’s soup at hand – the kind you drink.) Yep, I have weird tastes in food, and am not ashamed to admit, I am a total chocolaholic.  There you have it, and an oreo addict. Lindsay, I don’t know how you handle being allergic to them – girl, that just ain’t right!!

We lost a person to a faster group tonight, but we gained another female in her place. The newcomer is Betty, with whom I ran with about a month ago before moving upward to G. She’s really cool but we all almost fell over when she told us her age.  

Betty said she started running when she was 47, and that she used to place in her age group. Then she mentioned that she runs in the over 60 age group now. Part of me thought “holy crap, I need to get faster and move up to another group” and then part of me thought “this woman is AMAZING.”  Seriously, she totally didn’t look her age at all, and I hope I look like that when I get to be her age. Hopefully with all this running, I can accomplish that.

Tonight’s workout equalled just under 4 miles – about 3.9. He had us running 39-40 second laps, which comes out to about 7:09 or 7:20 minute miles. At one point we did 1 lap repeats of 38 seconds, or at least that is what they were supposed to be. We had Allison lead those laps, and because she doesn’t wear a watch, she tends to go faster, but if we are only doing 1 lap, that’s alright with me. For Betty, that was hard because she had just moved up a group, but I think she’s going to stick with us. I hope so because she’s cool.

At the end of our workout we were supposed to do 6 minutes at 43 second/lap pace. That comes out to be 7:53 minute pace.  I actually thought to myself during that portion of tonight (remember it was the end, which completely suprises me) that “this was an ok pace, and I could settle in and just keep going.”  WTH is happening to me??!!

Now, whether I could keep going for a 5K, I’m not so sure. Let’s not get carried away, but we’ll see. There is a race that I just learned about last night that’s on Feb. 1st (Super Bowl Sunday race), that I might do, but I think I want to wait and see what the weather forecast is for that day before I sign up and pay fees. The weather around here just seems to change too much to predict this far out. I’ll let you all know if I do it though!

Oh, and I think you might all be proud of me – tonight I even volunteered to lead a few intervals and I did alright – even a few laps were a bit too fast?! Being religious with my inhaler has definitely helped a ton.