Theme of the week: I’m reading Jurassic Park, watching Babysitter’s Club on Netflix, and making friendship bracelets, somehow I’ve regressed to my 13 year old self, and I keep running, something I never did as a 13 year old.
Runs:
Sunday, June 28 – Long run
13.1 miles. 11:52 per mile. Strides: 161 per min. Heart rate: 142 bpm. Temps: 70s, humid, mostly cloudy.
I woke up with my weight up (what else is new?) and a slight headache. I wasn’t sure I would make it to 13.1 miles, so I took this run nice and slow. 1 hour 18 minute 54 sec first half, 1 hour 17 min 14 sec second half, so pretty close to an even split (and it is always easier to run a half marathon when I negative split – I always want to negative split, often I don’t).
I did not feel fatigued or in pain at any point of this long run, which is great.
Good effort.
Monday, June 29
6.3 miles. 12:28 per mile. Strides: 157 per min. Heart rate: 138 bpm. Temps: 75-low 80s, humid.
Easy paced, slightly hilly (341 ft) run. It was hot and humid from the get go, and achiness returned to lower left hip, so this was nice and slow with no pressure on speed. Not my best run, but ok given the circumstances.
Tuesday, June 30
9 miles. 12:11 per mile. Strides: 160 per min. Heart rate: 147 bpm. Temps: 80s deg F, hot, humid, sunny.
This run was hot!!!
The biggest problem was sweat and sunscreen in my eyes, and stopping several times to rub eyes or pour water over them. I am sweating a whole lot, and feeling very tired after this one. Nice and slow pace, run was fine.
Wednesday, July 1
7 miles. 12:21 per mile. Strides: 159 per min. Heart rate: 142 bpm. Temps: 80s deg F, humid, sunny.
Slightly hilly, very hot run (383 ft ascent). This was a very relaxed pace. Instead of putting sunscreen all over my face, I put moisturizer with sunscreen (only 30 SPF though) on my forehead, which dries down and hopefully would not cause stinging when my forehead started sweating, and my regular sunscreen on the rest of my face (and thyroid surgery scar). As always, I use spray sunscreen all over the rest of me, and that does a pretty good job. I wear a baseball hat or visor on every run, so only 30 SPF on the forehead should not be a problem.
Anyway, no burning eye problems on this run (or any run since using this strategy – which I guess I did last year too when it was very hot, it is so easy to forget these things when it isn’t so hot out). This was a pretty good run. I was down 0.8 lb after this run, and consumed 24 oz of water, so 2.3 pound sweat loss.
Thursday, July 2
8 miles. 11:55 per mile. Strides: 161 per min. Heart rate: 143 bpm. Temps: 80s deg F, humid, sunny, and breezy.
Well thank goodness I figured out that whole burning eye thing two days ago, because this run (and every very hot run since), I brought along Gatorade electrolyte powder mixed in my normal water (so not pouring water on my eyes this time). I always take electrolytes after my runs, but with temperatures soaring and an upcoming surgery where I probably need to have all my salts balanced or whatever, this seemed like a good idea.
This was a very hot run. At times it felt breezy, but I feel like I am sweating a lot. I was feeling very sluggish, not sure if it is the Lupron Depot, or my “normal hot weather slowdown”. This run was not great, but it was fine.
Friday, July 3
6.2 miles. 12:18 per mile. Strides: 158 per min. Heart rate: 138 bpm. Temps: 80s deg F, sunny, hot
Another very hot run. This one was not fast, not long, very sweaty, and easy paced. This run was fine.
Saturday, July 4
7 miles. 12:18 per mile. Strides: 158 per min. Heart rate: 138 bpm. Temps: 80s deg F, sunny, hot!
This was a very hot, humid run. I was planning on doing a long run (10 miles?) today to get one in before the upcoming surgery on the 8th, but I’m not sure it is a great idea to push myself so hard in hot temperatures a few days before surgery, so I didn’t. (Compared to in 2018, when I did a 10.5 mile long run 3 days before my first thyroid surgery and 13.1 miles 3 days before my 2nd thyroid surgery.)
Running wrap-up
1.) Instead of talking about my anxiety about the upcoming surgery the following week, here’s how I ended up regressing about 27 years.
a.) I read a lot of books, and I like to read based on my mood. So instead of reading the 5 or so Overdrive books I’ve borrowed from the library, I decided to start reading Jurassic Park, a book I bought on sale (Kindle version) years ago, and probably have the paperback I read back in 1993-1994 lying around the house somewhere. Am I trying to distract myself from my real life worries by reading about dinosaurs? Yes.
b.) I found out this week that Netflix has a new series of Babysitter’s Club, a book series I read until probably 1995-1996. I attempted to reread one of these books when I was in my 20s, at least 10 years ago, it did not go well. But, the series is really good so far.
c.) I made the mistake of giving my 8 year old nephew a book on how to make friendship bracelets and some colored embroidery floss for his birthday a few weeks ago. My sister “claims” she cannot help him make bracelets or help him get started because she doesn’t know how to do it, so in the in-between time while waiting for my surgery and still trying to be distanced from my nephews until after surgery, I’ve been reteaching myself how to make bracelets. Actually, starting with just stripes, it took about 3 minutes to cut string, tie a knot, and get started on the first row. Now it is just repeating the same thing until I think it might fit an 8 year old boys wrist.
These are all probably very good things that are helping keep me sane while waiting for the upcoming surgery.
2.) I just spent a lot of this week wanting the surgery over with and worrying about losing my uterus. I had no idea if the fibroid had shrunk, and emergency hysterectomy was discussed as a possibility. My anxiety was nowhere near November 2019 levels, but there was some anxiety.
3.) Speed – I haven’t done any speed workouts or hill repeats since who knows when (June 11 and June 9), but overall my speed isn’t that bad, especially since I always slow down when it is hot outside, and this was a hot week.
4.) Distance – 56 miles is very good, especially since I was struggling last week to make it 42. I still am going to try to get an average of 50 miles a week this year, which will be tough with a week off after surgery, but my main yearly goal is to be as healthy as possible, so if I feel like I’m overdoing it with mileage, I will cut back. This was a pretty good week.
5.) Weight. Well, if this was similar to the first month of Lupron Depot February 12-March 13th, my weight should have come back down by now. It has not. It is also significantly more hot and humid outside, and the heat often causes me to be bloated. Not sure if it is electrolytes or humidity or what. So I’m trying not to worry about weight and what that might mean about my estrogen levels or if the Lupron Depot is working.
I’ve given up worrying about whether I’ve “gained fat” or not. At this point, it does not really matter. Whether my starting point is 160 or 155 pounds, both those numbers are not too far from 150 pounds. I started tracking calories again this week, just to get an idea of what I am eating and maybe jump start my “undereating by 200 calories a day”. Surprisingly, even without restricting any eating, I was under eating every day I tracked. (I did not track on July 4th, but besides two S’mores, I don’t think I consumed anything that different than typical). If my “weight gain” were entirely from overeating, I’d be very surprised, and would probably be an indication my thyroid medication is way off. But right now, evidence is not pointing in that direction.
Total walking + running miles this week (June 28 – July 4): 64.54 miles (up 13.68 from last week)
Total walking + running miles this year (2020): 1,566.46 miles
Total steps this week (June 28 – July 4): 125,510 steps (up 27,036 from last week)
Total steps this year (2020): 3,021,964 steps
Average steps per day (June 28 – July 4): 17,930 steps (up 3,824 from last week)
Average steps per day (2020): 16,247 steps
Total running miles this week (June 28 – July 4): 56.82 miles (up 14.12 from last week)
Average running mileage per week (2020): 49.40 miles
Total running miles this year (2020): 1,312.68 miles
Average running speed this week (not including hill repeats)( June 28 – July 4): 12:09/mile. (4 sec slower per mile than last week)
Average running speed this year (2020): 11:48 per mile
Average resting heart rate this week (June 28 – July 4): 59 bpm (3 bpm lower than last week)
Average resting heart rate this year (2020): 61 bpm
Elevation gain this week (June 28 – July 4): 2,396 ft. (up 890 ft. from last week)
Elevation gain this year (2020): 53,498 ft.
Average elevation gain per week (2020): 2,013 ft.
Current thyroid medication: 150 mcg/day levothyroxine + 5 mcg x 2 times a day liothyronine. Started on Aug. 16, 2019.
Weight, weight fluctuate
Weight: 161.4 lb (up 0.2 lb from last week).
Weight January 1, 2020: 151.0 lb
Weight change since Jan 1, 2020: +10.3 lb
Previous week: June 21 – June 27, 2020
Next week: July 5 – July 11, 2020
Bonus section
Strava took away my ability to look at how I’ve improved (or slowed down?) on the segments I run frequently – that is now behind a paywall. But, they’ve just added Local Legends, which allows me to see how many times I run the same segments over and over again, presumably if I am the one who does them the most frequently. These are basically most of the segments in the neighborhoods I run through often, as well as my hill repeat hill.
Guess which one is the hill repeats.
Running with a thyroid problem 
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