Theme of the week:  It’s humid, it’s also hot.

Runs (and swims and strength training):

Sunday, August 15 – “Recovery” Run/Swim/Strength training

Run: 7 miles.  10:02 per mile.  Strides: 166 per min.  Heart rate: 141 bpm.  Temps: high 60s, low 70s°F, sunny(ish).  9:37 am.

This was an easy paced (based on heart rate, otherwise moderate/sub-tempo effort level if I ignore heart rate), hilly (360 ft. gain) run.  It should have been a “recovery run” after my 13.1 miles yesterday, but with the cooler temperatures it looks like I just wanted to run faster today.

I did not pay attention to my watch and just ran by effort today (it’s always difficult to get heart rate up after a hard workout the day before).

Swim: 12:30 pm.  65 minutes.  56 laps/2,800 yards.

100 yards each breast, free, back, breast kick, 600 yards free, 100 yards back, free kick, 600 yards free, 100 yards back, back kick, IM, back, IM, back, 300 yards free, 100 yards elementary backstroke.

This was a great swim.  My local pool is still closed, so this was at the Downtown YMCA, and the water was even warmer this time than last time (84-85°F).  I don’t like the warm water temperature, but I was happy to swim and to have a lane to myself.  This is a very splashy pool (4 lanes, and no lip that water can flow into = more backwash than I’m used to).

Strength training: 1:58 pm.  51 minutes. 

This was also at the Downtown YMCA.  I mostly did the machines, no kettlebells, which meant no goblet squats or sumo squats, and a lot fewer lunges and squats than normal.  After the workout I wandered around the “upstairs” of the gym, which  was fun.

Monday, August 16 – (Supra-)Tempo-intervals Run

Run: 9.1 miles.  10:07 per mile.  Strides: 164 per min.  Heart rate: 152 bpm.  Temps: high 60s, low 70s°F, sunny.  9:46 am. 

The plan was to do 6 x 7 minutes “slightly faster than tempo pace”, 5 minutes recovery jog today.  I realized in the middle of the second tempo-interval that this was not going to happen.  In hindsight, seeing that my last “full tempo” run (where I run tempo pace for about 60-65 minutes) was June 22 at a 9:00/mile pace, and that the second “tempo interval” today was at an ~8:15/mile pace, this was clearly too ambitious.

So… this was 12 minute warm-up (at 11:00/mile pace), 7 minutes “supra-tempo”, 5 minute recovery, 7 minutes “s-tempo”, 9 minutes recovery, 5 minutes “s-tempo”, 10 minutes recovery, 5 minutes “s-tempo”, 10 minutes recovery, 7 minutes “s-tempo”, 14 minutes cool down.

My tempo pace today was: 1.) (7 min.) 8:45/mile, 2.) (7 min.) 8:15/mile, 3.) (5 min.) 8:15/mile, 4.) (5 min.) 8:18/mile, 5.) (7 min.) 8:49/mile.

It might seem like I took the easy road, but my heart rate did not recover much inbetween the tempo efforts, and I have to work very hard to get anywhere close to 8:15/mile – my heart rate got up to 172 bpm on all but the last tempo effort, and I was pushing harder that I do on tempo runs.

I feel good that I’m capable of maintaining an 8:15ish pace for ~7 minutes, and looking at tempo paces from the beginning of the year, this is a huge improvement.  I probably should do either faster/shorter intervals next or a slower, steady tempo run.  I’m feeling pretty good about the effort level today.

Tuesday, August 17 – Recovery Run/Swim

Run: 7 miles.  11:10 per mile.  Strides: 161 per min.  Heart rate: 134 bpm.  Temps: high 60s, low 70s°F, sunny. 9:46 am.

This was an easy paced, hilly (362 ft. gain) run.  I didn’t bother trying to get my heart rate up to 130-135 bpm today, but I did do a “fast last mile” and managed to get the average heart rate up because of that (9:25/153 bpm for the last mile).

This run was very humid.  More on that below.

Swim: 11:57 am.  42 minutes.  37 laps/1,850 yards

100 yards each breast, free, back, 50 yards breast kick, 300 free, 50 back, free kick, 300 free, 50 back, back kick, 300 free, 50 back, breast kick, 300 free.

I wasn’t feeling great during this swim, and I ended it early (I had planned to do around an hour, which is the usual amount of swimming for me these days).  I felt fine when I started swimming, otherwise I would not have gone in the first place. I was not sure what was going on, just that I felt slightly “off”.  I went home and noticed a giant puddle in my bathroom where I had hung up my morning run clothes which were waiting to be brought downstairs and thrown in the laundry after I got home from the swim.  (I’ve never noticed a giant puddle before.) 

I drank water and electrolytes on my run, and more water during my swim, but I had a mild headache all afternoon (which is usually a sign of dehydration for me).  I don’t think I gave myself enough time after finishing the run (around 11) and beginning the swim (around 12) to properly rehydrate from what was an extremely sweaty run this morning.  I was so excited to go for a swim now that my local pool has reopened that I went much earlier in the day than is normal for me, and probably continued to lose sweat in the pool. 

(Do people sweat when they swim?  My body sweats like crazy in the gym even though the temperature in the back weight room area is set to mid-low 60s, so I’d imagine I’m probably sweating in 80-81 degree water as well.  Once I start swimming, I never feel cold, so I’m probably generating some heat.)

I drink water while swimming.  I often drink a full water bottle (24 ounces?).  I then refill it and drink close to another full bottle when lifting weights, if I’m lifting at the gym right after my swim.  I think the combination of the massive amount of sweat I lose while running in the summer combined with continuing to exercise and sweat some more after the run left me dehydrated more than normal today.

I’m looking forward to it not being incredibly hot and not losing as much sweat and seeing if I can go from running directly to swimming, but that’s not happening any time soon.

Wednesday, August 18 – Run/Swim

Run: 7 miles.  10:56 per mile.  Strides:  162 per min.  Heart rate: 139 bpm.  Temps:  mid-high 70s°F, humid, sunny, hot!  9:31 am.

This was an easy paced, hilly (360 ft. gain) run, with a fast last mile (8:56! Yowzers, this escalated quickly).  Not too much to note here except the humidity made this a very sweaty run, my running clothes seem more and more soaked these days.  I didn’t realize the last mile was at a sub-9:00 pace, but this was a very good effort, especially in the humidity.

Swim: 3:45 pm.  60 minutes.  50 laps/2,500 yards.

100 yards each breast, free, back, free kick, 600 yards free, 100 yards back, breast kick, 600 yards free, 100 yards back, back kick, IM, back, IM, 50 back, 50 free, 100 yards elementary back.

4 lanes were open but all were in use.  I ended up swimming next to an “actual lane” in the area designated for free swim, no one else was there.  I had to move a deep end buoy line to open up the lane.  At some point during this swim, I had a mini “freak out” that I had forgotten to put my lock on the locker (this is something I do automatically and forget that I’ve done it).  For the first time ever, I got out of the pool to check on my locker (the lock was there).  When I came back from the locker room, a “real lane” had opened up, so I had to go put the deep lane line buoy back in place, move all my stuff, and resumed my swim. 

The water was crisp clear since the new paint job, and the temperature is so much cooler than the other pools I’ve visisted (79-81ish I think).  This was a great swim.

Strength training: 5:01 pm. 51 minutes.

I was feeling tired, so I eased back on both the amount of weight lifted and number of reps on most things.

Thursday, August 19 – Run

 Run: 8.6 miles.  10:26 per mile.  Strides:  163 per min.  Heart rate: 143 bpm.  Temps:  mid-high 70°F, overcast, humid.  9:33 am.

This was an easy paced (but only based on heart rate zone), hilly (451 ft. gain) run.  I’ve stopped looking at heart rate during the run this week and just running by effort to what I “feel” should be an easy pace according to my heart rate.  (With the heat and humidity this week, this might be a really stupid idea, since hot usually drives my heart rate up.)

This run may have been a tidge too fast, but for now, anything around 130-145 bpm has been arbitrarily designated as “easy pace” by me, so most of the run was easy (the hills push my heart rate up a bit, so average flat heart rate was probably in 130-land). 

I don’t know if it was running in my new shoes that finally arrived (Nike Peg 37s – super cushiony/bouncy) or listening to a new audiobook about the Paradise, California fire in 2018, but this was great run.  I dropped my crushed up water bottle somewhere on the last mile, and had to go back and get it.  I hopped on a bike (something I almost never do) and backtracked – it was only 0.4 miles away, so I got in a good 6 minute, 0.8 mile bike ride, which I guess is crosstraining for the day.

Friday, August 20 – Long Run/Swim

Run: 10 miles.  11:19 per mile.  Strides: 162 per min.  Heart rate: 133 bpm.  Temps: high 70s-80°F, sunny. 9:24 am.

This was an easy paced, flat (198 ft. gain) long run.  I had planned to do ~8-8.5 miles, but I’m also trying to convince myself to do hill repeats tomorrow, so I made it a “long run”.  I filled up my 70-80% empty water bottle with water from a public fountain at the park, around 4.8 miles in.  Upon tasting the water from the fountain, I decided the water tasted funny, and then got real paranoid about possible harmful contaminants that might be in that water, and made it through the last 5 miles of a very hot run on a few sips of water (it’s probably fine). 

Swim: 4:13 pm. 50 minutes. 40 laps/2,000 yards.

100 yards each: breast, free, back, breast kickboard, IM, breast, free, back, IM, kickboard (25 breast to catch my breath, then 75 free kick), breast, free, back, IM, back kick, IM, breast, free (this may have been 3 laps/150 yards – got lost in my thoughts here), back, elementary back

I took it easy today (except I did 4 lengths of fly, something I haven’t done in years, so “moderately” easy), and I had planned to lift weights after the swim, but somehow in the last 5 minutes my body convinced me that a 10 mile run this morning plus swimming this afternoon is “enough” for today, and I should do weights tomorrow instead.

(Sometimes I have great success when I go lift weights when I’m feeling really tired, but that’s not happening today.)

Saturday, August 21 – Hill repeats

Run: 7 miles.  12:42 per mile.  Strides: 156 per min. Heart rate: 142 bpm.  Temps: 84-88°F, hot.  12:42 am.

Another rare afternoon run in the high heat.  I had planned to do hill repeats today, before my sister got back to me about what time my nephew’s soccer game was in the morning (it was 10, it’s a 40 minute drive each way).  I decided it is more important for me to see my nephew play soccer in the morning and I’d figure out what to do about running when I got home.

The motivating factor for still doing hill repeats is the hill repeat hill is in a large, wooded park, and would at least be partially in shade, compared to my normal run through neighborhoods, which would not be shaded at all this time of day.

5 minutes warm-up, 16 x ~80 seconds up, easy down, then easy hilly running.  Total elevation gain: 1,211 ft.

This was tough.  I almost quit the repeats several times during this run.  My glutes (and especially right glutes) were sore while the run was going on.  This was a very hot, very sweaty hill repeat session, but it happened.

Running wrap-up

1.)  The end of this week got very hot, and I feel like my running has entered something of a “survival mode”.  I’m still running, I’m still (barely) getting in some speed work and a long run, but it is so hard to try for anything harder than an easy run most days in the heat.

2.)  I swam a lot this week.  Now that my local pool is back open, I feel like I can go a little more often and not spend as much gas or time getting there.  My strength training has fallen behind in August, not training as often as I probably should, but I’m getting back at it (a little bit) this week.  I guess I can call this a “detraining” month.

Total walking + running miles this week (August 15 – August 21): 68.04 miles (up 1.25 from last week

Total walking + running miles this year (2021): 2,338.73 miles

Total steps this week (August 15 – August 21): 126,270 steps (down 2,100 from last week)

Total steps this year (2021): 4,496,480 steps

Average steps per day (August 15 – August 21): 18,038 steps (down 300 from last week)

Average steps per day (2021): 19,298 steps

Total running miles this week (August 15 – August 21): 55.78 miles (up 0.01 from last week — hahaha)

Average running mileage per week (2021): 57.21 miles

Total running miles this year (2021): 1,904.38 miles

Average running speed this week (not including hill repeats) (August 15 – August 21):  10:40/mile.  (65 seconds faster per mile than last week – this seems ridiculously fast for this past week, and I had to double check – apparently I did average faster than an 11 minute mile, when I drop out the hill repeats, it’s 10:40/mile, with hill repeats included it’s 10:56/mile average for the week)

Average running speed this year (2021): 11:37 per mile

Average running heart rate this week (August 15 – August 21): 140 bpm (up 6 bpm from last week)

Average running heart rate this year (2021): 138 bpm

Average resting heart rate this week (August 15 – August 21): 55 bpm (up 3 bpm from last week – glad to see it is a little closer to 60 this week)

Average resting heart rate this year (2021): 58 bpm

Elevation gain this week (August 15 – August 21): 3,107 ft. (up 649 ft. from last week).

Elevation gain this year (2021):  86,144 ft.

Average elevation gain per week (2021): 2,588 ft.

Swimming distance this week (August 15 – August 21): 9,150 yards/183 laps/5.20 miles

Average swimming pace this week (August 15 – August 21): ~1:12/50 yards lap or ~2:23/100 yards.  (This includes stoppage time and a variety of laps including kickboard laps)

Average swimming pace this year:  ???  To be determined.

Swimming distance this year (2021): 99,400 yards/1,990 laps/56.48 miles

Average swimming distance/week (2021, starting on April 23): 5,750 yards/115 laps/3.27 miles

Current thyroid medication: 137.5 mcg/day levothyroxine + 5 mcg x 2 times a day liothyronine. Started on Aug. 11, 2020.

Weight, weight fluctuate

Weight: 163.8 lb (up 0.6 lb from last week).

Weight January 1, 2021: 163.3 lb

Weight change since Jan 1, 2021: +0.5 lb

Previous week:  August 8 – August 14, 2021

Next week:  August 29 – September 4, 2021