90+ temps put a serious cramp on my training schedule. Actually, a couple of those days ended up breaking 100. When the overnight low doesn't even hit 70, it doesn't matter how early you wake up in the morning. By 6:30am it was already in the mid to upper 70s with high humidity. I squeezed in an easy run (2.5 miles) early that Monday morning when it was only 80 degrees. Not only is it incredibly uncomfortable, I find I feel sluggish and really struggle to run at the pace I need to.I didn't want to put off running completely for the week...so I sucked it up and went to the dreaded treadmill for my 7 mile long run on Tuesday. This was quite the feat for me, as I usually become terribly bored on the treadmill, and I don't know if I've ever stuck it out longer than about 3 miles. The last time I ran on a treadmill was just over 3 months ago. We were driving back from Florida and staying over at a hotel along the way and the only reason I used the hotel's treadmill was because it was 2 weeks before my half marathon.
On Wednesday evening, I squeezed in a 45 minute spin class for some cross-training. Thursday was a rest day and Friday afternoon I sucked it up and went back to the gym for 5.5 miles of speed work. I have a Garmin Forerunner, which tells me my pace when running outside, but I must say the treadmill was very helpful in forcing me to run at the right pace for my intervals.I was very pleased to find out that I am capable of running longer distances on the treadmill when I need to, but I'm eager to resume running outside when it cools off again.
For those of you that run, do you prefer to do it outdoors or on a treadmill?
I would much rather run outside. I also get bored with the treadmill. I am debating whether or not to run with my training group outside this week though because of the extreme heat. We run every Thursday at 6pm and I so look forward to it each week. Everyone keeps telling me to skip this week because of the heat wave and I am not sure what I will do. As a stay at home mom of two that hour or so of running is an escape for me that I hate to give up.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I run outside whenever I can. I actually don't currently belong to a gym (haven't renewed my membership since it ran out in April) and don't own a treadmill, so I have only run outside since April! Speedwork suffered a little this week with it being so hot. Running at 6pm is tough! I give you credit for sticking with it. I've been doing my runs at 6:30/7am this week (I can't make myself get up much earlier than that).
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