Saturday, March 28, 2009

The Exhausted Runner

We're staying at a hotel this weekend and it's raining outside so my Saturday run was accomplished indoors. The hotel has Life Fitness treadmills and I was impressed that the speed on the treadmill's display almost exactly matched the readout on my Garmin 50. To my left and right were a couple of women doing workouts and updating each other with facts like, "I just ran up a 70 foot hill!" I felt bad when I hit the speed button to get to my 7 MPH pace because the noise level interrupted their communication.

The treadmill's display had multiple ways to view progress and I chose the "trail" view that showed a 5K course with markers in 1K increments. It wasn't virtual reality but it was a good distraction. The fitness center was really hot so I was sweating very early in the run. I was tired at the one mile point and it got worse as I went on. I kept a moderately fast pace and ended up running 3 miles at 8:54/mile.

After the run I was very tired, much more than after yesterday's run. The heat had much to do with that. I'm a little concerned about running in the warmer weather as we move from spring to summer. At the very least I'll need ensure that I pre-hydrate before longer runs.

3 comments:

  1. I'm wondering about the heat here too -- it gets so humid, that even a 5 am walk outside to get the paper can cause a person to work up a sweat. I suppose it'll be a matter of getting used to it, but I'm sure not looking forward to it!

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  2. I know. You can always put on more layers when it's cold but there's a limit to what you can take off! With earlier sunrises I think it may be okay on LI for most of the summer if I get out before 6:00 AM. That limits things in terms of events though. Maybe it will require drinking a lot of water before I run or even carrying some along with me. Have you run in the summer?

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  3. My running began in the fall, but I used to get up every morning and head to the gym very early in the mornings (before having a baby to take care of!)... Some days, just walking outside at that time was horrible -- felt like someone had thrown a hot, wet blanket over me! I have to admit I'm not looking forward to it, but I can always retreat to the treadmill (and the air conditioning) if need be I suppose....

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