No walls!
It was a much better run yesterday and I never had the moment of, “I can’t go on”. It felt so good to me and was the first time in weeks (other than my trail run last week with @BigBigGeek) I had such a great run. What made the difference? I think it was several factors; some changes I made and some circumstances.
1) The weather – It was about 5 to 10 degrees cooler when I ran, but still humid and felt hot to me. Though going from mid 90s to mid 80s must have made a difference.
2) My virtual coach – I have written before that I use iSmoothRun as my running app. It really is a great app and I have stopped looking further for anything else. One feature is that a pace can be set for each mile (I chose 9:30 since that is the average pace I have been keeping in the heat) and the app will tell you during that mile if you need to speed up, slow down or run steady. I tend to start slow to warm up and then go too fast if I feel good and then I have nothing left after 3 miles in the heat. This app kept me in the 9:30 – 9:15 range, so I never went too fast. I think it really helped!
3) My cool hat – No not cool as in looks, though it isn’t bad looking, but cool as in temperature. It is made by Columbia and really works. As I got into my run and started sweating I felt much cooler. I then felt my hat and it felt like someone poured cool water over it. It is supposed to lower the heat by 5 degrees. I’ll take that! I think it made a huge difference. TJ is getting me the shirt for Fathers Day – I can’t wait to try it!
4) Eat half a Pemmican energy bar. This bar doesn’t taste good, but does seem to keep the energy going without peaking like gels do.
5) I am just an awesome runner Not there yet, but I am trying. 🙂
So all in all it was a really good run. I kept waiting for that “feeling” of not being able to go on, but it never came. It was such a relief.
This morning it is cool and 75 degrees outside so I need to hit the road.
Thanks for reading.
278 to Boston 
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You sound much more positive! Good!
I have good days and bad. I’m glad to be having good ones now. Sort of like life in general. 🙂
Question for you, when you are having these good days versus bad days, what is your mind on during your runs? As I push for longer distances, 5 miles is my long run, I am noticing that I have a longer time to think and it really is troubling to just think “step step step step step ouch” or the same song over and over for my 45 minutes or so…
I run roads so I can’t afford to plug in to my ipod or I can’t hear traffic, but this is the most brutal part of the run for me and could use some more experienced advice. I do know that I will get a hymn in my head and if it is a slow tempo, my run time suffers versus the more upbeat tempo helping me along, but boy there’s got to be something or some trick to help…So whatcha got?
Also, I am intrigued about this cool hat…I shall be looking into this:)
That is an excellent question. I decided early on when I began running that I would not listen to music. The man reason was that I didn’t want to be “chained” to having to listen to something in order to run. The pace is another issue. If a song comes on that doesn’t match your pace, that can throw you off (RS told me that). Anyway, to be honest, I just try thinking of different things (like what I will blog about the next day) or even pray for people. One of the biggest helps has been this iSmoothRun virtual coach (as I call it). It is constantly telling me, “slower”, “faster” or “steady”. It give several updates as to how far ahead or behind pace you are. It also give detail on your last mile at the end of that mile. I have really tried to rely on it to help me stay on target. So that keeps my head in the game and keeps me from thinking too much. I have just started using it again the past couple of days and my runs have gotten a lot better. I hope that helps some. I think the mental part of running is tougher than the physical.