Good morning. Happy Thursday – I can not wait until the weekend! This has been a week of stress and heat, and it has not been fun.
I’m not going to recap what I’ve eaten over the past two days, mostly because I was too frazzled to photograph much of anything.
On Tuesday night I did manage to work in an 8-mile run before the heat hit us. Thank goodness. Here are my stats from that run:
Mile 1 – 10:01 (I hit every light on the way to the park)
Mile 2 – 8:06
Mile 3 – 8:17
Mile 4 – 8:17
Mile 5 – 8:10
Mile 6 – 8:02
Mile 7 – 8:20
Mile 8 – 9:22
Total mileage – 8.05 in 1:05:04. Average page 8:34 minute miles
Happily, I only had one 8 mile run again this week, so I was glad to have that out of the way. Why? Because then Wednesday began and it was the day from hell.
First, I woke up late because I completely forgot to set my alarm. Thankfully, Murphy frequently pesters me to get up in the morning and for once I was happy he did. He nudged me to get up, I looked at the clock and flew out of bed and rushed to work.
I’ve been a little stressed lately at work and I won’t get into it, except to say that throughout most of the day yesterday I was a stressed out freak. Thankfully, after a 3:00 meeting, I was more at ease. But for the majority of the day I was a nervous wreck and even started breaking out because of it.
Then I left work and was hit in the face with 89 degree weather. I had a 5 mile run on the training schedule, so there was no backing out of it. Let me tell you – it was a doozy. I decided right from the start to take it slow. I managed well until the last mile, which was all uphill. Here are my stats:
Mile 1 – 8:25
Mile 2 – 8:19
Mile 3 – 8:26
Mile 4 – 8:18
Mile 5 – 8:50
Total mileage – 5.09 miles in 43:05. Average pace – 8:27 minute miles.
Holy hotness! Not only that, but when did it become okay for people to smoke pot out in the open on the East River Promenade? It’s starting to get out of control over there. Usually when I head south toward 63rd street I prep myself for it because there are typically 1-2 groups of teenagers out there smoking, but I hadn’t encountered it heading North yet. Well, last night I did. It is the most unpleasant thing in the world to run by the people smoking cigarettes and cigars, but a plume of pot smoke is the worst! I’m sort of tempted to put in a call to our local precinct and ask them to patrol or something. I’m really tired of having to hold my breath when I’m running.
Well, I was certainly dripping after that one. That is one of the things I was really liking about training for a marathon in the Spring – not having to deal with the summer heat. I think the crazy heat is supposed to dissipate a bit for a while after today though. And I’m pretty sure in NYC we hit a new record high for this time of year.
After my run I showered and then listened to Hubby explain the latest co-op drama going on. He’s the co-op president, so people always seem to run to him when they have a problem. Fun times – fabulous day.
I made us a quick, easy dinner of grilled chicken with broccoli and then as I started cleaning up I noticed that one of my pickle jars must have cracked in the fridge because there was pickle juice EVERYWHERE! It was totally disgusting. I spent a long time cleaning up that mess, while attempting to clean up the dinner mess as well. Good lord, I just needed the day to end!
With the day from hell coming to a close, I decided to turn in early and move on to the next day. Do you think I was able to fall asleep? Nope – layed in bed wide awake for at least an hour and half. Great.
But today is a new day and hopefully a better one. To be safe, I’ve decided to run my 5-mile run on the treadmill at the gym tonight. It’s only going to be around 80 degrees, but I could use an easy, cool run. I’ve got my first 20-miler coming up this Saturday, so I won’t beat myself up over choosing the treadmill for once.
Did you brave the heat yesterday for a run? How do you cope when you have a day from hell?
Looking back, I probably should have enjoyed a big glass of wine before bed, that might have made sleeping a little easier. 😉
Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday…and that I do too!
P.S. Forgot to mention that I finally have some new book reviews up:
Eat, Read, Run 
Goodness girl…you DID have a day! I am glad it over and behind you!! 🙂 Usually when my day s that bad I do one of two things: laugh or cry! Either one always makes me feel better! But I am thinking the wine idea might be the new way to go!
Thankfully I wasn’t crying – I was kind of laughing at how horrendous it was though.
Wow what a day, i’m glad it’s over for you! I wish we had heat like that here in Washington state… It’ll be a few months before that happens probably.
Oh man, I ran in the park yesterday and it was pretty brutal. I have a tempo run scheduled for today – I hope I survive!
What’s your hydration plan for the marathon? Do you use a fuel belt?
So far I’ve been using a handheld water bottle, but this weekend I am reverting back to my water belt. I used the water fuel belt when training for the last one, but wanted to try the handheld. After a while my hand ends up cramping, even if I do switch back and forth. On marathon day I’ll just be using the water stops on the course though.
Work stress is definitely an energy suck… I’m learning that one right now as well.
I think I’ve competely forgotten what 80-degree weather feels like. Please send some my way!
My day from hell occurred a couple of weeks ago. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other until it was over. Then I collapsed and sat in silence for about an hour. Finally I made dinner, watching CSI: Miami, and then went to bed.
Those are impressive stats after facing heat! I did run yesterday during lunch and was slow as molasses compared to you 🙂
I could not workout in such extreme temps. I would pass out. And insane about the pot smoking. I wouldn’t think people would do that so blatantly out in the open.
Hopefully some of this cooler weather has come your way, little early for those summer temps…. nice for relaxing in but not for running! Great job on those runs though, despite everything!!
Wow girl you still did good on your time, even in that heat. I’ve found that my pace is so much better when the weather is in the 50s. My breathing tends to get too shallow by mile 3 when I run in anything 70 and above. I’m certainly not looking forward to my continued runs in the Florida heat. Nightly runs will have to do.