The Afternoon Run

On the plate for today- run, drills, strength.

Running has been the questionable factor in my training plan lately. Not because I am not doing the work or that I am slow, but because I am not doing my runs during the best part of the day. I am not a morning person- I am a lazy bum in the morning. Well, let me take that back- I am not completely lazy. I get out of bed at 4:50am to make it to swim several times a week. I also have to be at school between 7:30-8:00 on most days. So, I don't really sleep in too much. But, there are days when I should get up early to run but I choose to wait until later in the day. BIG MISTAKE! I live in Memphis- second only to New Orleans, and hey, I lived there too. It is not unusual for the heat index to be 110 right around this time. Plus, with the humidity of the south, your sweat never cools you down simply because it cannot evaporate. Our natural cooling systems are ineffective around here.

So, today I had a choice- wake up early and get my run in, go at lunch, or wait until after school. I have learned that running at noon around here is not good, so I scratched off that option. Angie offered to do the smart thing with me and run in the morning, but the thought of sleeping in until 6:30 was just too good for me to pass up so I had to decline. That left only one option- the late afternoon run.

The afternoon run, or any run between the hours of 9 and 7, are very risky in Memphis. Your HR can easily reach LT even though you are at a snail's pace. It doesn't matter how slow you go, the HR is not going down. How unmotivating to see a slow pace and a high HR! But, I guess I am a glutton for punishment; or rather, I don't learn my lessons the first time around because I have written in my training log several times- DO NOT RUN IN HEAT OF DAY. MAKE MORE EFFECTIVE USE OF RUN TIME. etc....

Back to the story- so I sucker Jan in to my run. Heh heh! Perfect! I get out of school, running shoes on, hop on the bike, and head to Jan's house. She lives a whole mile away, and wouldn't you know I ran into another friend in that one mile- Brian Wamble! Yea Brian! (IMUSA08 finisher!). So, I coerced one other friend into joining me for a run!

I hope Brian didn't mind me groping his body. Ha ha! Look at the first-time Ironman finisher! And, wouldn't you know he said it was much easier than he thought it would be, never bonked, never felt bad, yada yada.

Jan and I ran with our little HR monitors on and compared our escalating HRs every 5 minutes or so. It made me feel so much better to know someone else had such a high HR on hot run days. And, Jan is the fittest girl I know hands down- so a high HR for her has everything to do with the heat and nothing to do with fitness. Speaking of fit, see below.

Look at Jan's p90x body! She has gained some serious strength.

And I'll just keep my shirt on when standing next to these two studs- Bri and Jan.

So, we ended up having a good run. Afterwards we did all of our little run drills, and we decided that I favor my left leg (lack of strength or ROM, we aren't sure?) and we tried to figure out the best time to start having kids. Don't ask me how those two things go together.

To wrap it up, I made myself do Jan's p90x ab workout with her. She did the highest degree of difficulty on the exercises and I did the weeniest. Okay, so I have a ways to go. But, I think Jan could be the girl on the video- or on a p90x infomercial.

And, Brian would like for us all to learn how to pee on the bike during an Ironman. Apparently he had to pee 5 times on the bike and could not make himself go while riding. So, start practicing!