A Boost For Me!

After running in the heat a few days last week, we cemented the fact that a gym was the best place to beat the heat and humidity for the rest of the summer and continue to get a good workout. Check out this horrible picture to understand why...


This was taken between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning. Just look how drenched I was! Thankfully I usually wear black or dark shorts because these were soaking wet, too. And for those who think "so what" let me add here, I DON'T sweat much at all. Even my shirt gathered in the middle and made me look pudgey...yuk!!! (This is not belly btw.) I stay drained after a measely 3 mile run...and that's about all I can do. All our running seems to be in places where there is NO shade, such as parking lots, pavement and seawalls. These kind of places keep the ground underneath very hot as well as the air around us. But not even a breeze has even been blowing lately. So this has been a hard year for me so far.


Here is Kent trying to cool off on his bike. Though he looks "cool" I'll add that he stays wet from morning til night. Here he's already run and taken a dip in the pool and STILL trying to keep cool. He wears his hair back when he's hot and trying to cool down. Now, he IS a sweat-er so this year has been very hard on him.

Now, Back To The Future...
Let me just say that I have really kinda dreaded joining a gym for the summer thinking it would be a waste of money. But after going this morning for the first time I've got to say it was a real pleasure. I started out running on the treadmill (after all, I'm a runner and that's the main reason for joining-to get out of the heat and humidity). Starting with a somewhat hesitant mindset, I hopped on the TM and almost immediately loved it! Hey, I'm NOT a TM girl at all. But I'm wondering (and have been) if ours was callibrated right. Now, I can say - NOPE, it's not! It is tough doing a 10-minute mile on ours but within one minute of running on theirs, I was running a 9:18. This was so exciting. Then I got to wondering if I would give out sooner than what I had planned to do; then thought if I could make 3 miles at this pace, I'd be happy. Well, the 3 miles came and went pretty fast. Next thing I knew I was up to 4.5 pretty easy. I just couldn't believe it! Thinking about doing some speedwork since I was really finished with what I wanted to do, a decision was made to pop up the speed to an 8:15 pace. I did 3-400's with a 9:18 pace interval; then the last half mile or so I sped it up to a 7:52 pace at 2 (or 3 I forgot)-800's. This ended me with 6.25 miles total. Boy was I stoked!! This was NOT hard and it really gave me a boost (hence the title today).

My running was followed by 3 miles on their bike, floor work, weights and ab and core workouts. If I could have thought of something else to do, I believe I'd have done it...although Kent was kinda pacing by then to leave. Can't wait for tomorrow!! See you then...