How am I feeling today?

Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes, it has been a great day and not too shabby for 64 trips around the sun on this little blue marble.

I hope you all watched Molly get the bronze and the amazing women who ran in challenging conditions for the Women’s Olympic Marathon. Very impressive runs by all them, but none more surprising than “By Golly Molly”.

It is back to more normal August weather here in Maine, so I am glad that I did my 5K time trial yesterday. Running hard in hot/humid/bright sunshine is not my idea of a good time, but yesterday’s rain and mid ‘60s were more my idea of good running weather in the summer. 

Today is a scheduled rest day and as much as I would like to run 6.4 miles to celebrate turning 64, I think that it can wait until tomorrow. I have run too many days in a row (13), finished up my 5K training plan, and need a day’s break from running to give the old body recovery time.

Though my idea of recovery probably will include an easy hike over in the Colby Woods, cutting up some downed trees with a chainsaw and a walking with Bennie more than a few times. Although I do plan to watch the Woman’s Olympic Marathon this afternoon, even though the forecast for the race is not what I would want to run a marathon in – that is for sure.

Planned Workout Description: 

Rest and recovery day

Today’s Running Focus

Rest

What I Did Today: 

Yeah, I couldn’t resist getting out and running for my birthday. It was an easy recovery run and I thought a couple of times about doing the 6.4-miles, but by the time I got to 4.0-miles I had enough of the heat/humidity. I wasn’t out chasing Olympic dreams or anything like that, so this old fart didn’t have a whole lot to prove, other than getting safely back to the lunch table.

Recovery Run – 30:00 minutes 

Target Range	Duration	Distance	Power	Heart Rate	Pace	Cadence	Stride Length
150-174	30:02	3	197	131	10:01	163	.97

Unplanned – 

Target Range	Duration	Distance	Power	Heart Rate	Pace	Cadence	Stride Length
None	10:48	1.07	214	148	10:07	165	.95

Did the workout go as planned?

Nope – I was supposed to take the day off and instead I ran 4.0 miles.

Injuries/Niggles: My right hamstrings was a little tight to start the run, but loosened up nicely during the first mile. The Achilles was there, but never really bothered, so that was nice. Otherwise, just kept wondering to myself, what in the hell I was doing out there running on my day off?

Weather: Clear sky, 78°F, Feels like 79°F, Humidity 76%, Wind 6mph from N. As long as I stayed in the shade most of the run, it wasn’t too bad, but in the sun fields, it got pretty nasty quickly.

Shoes: Saucony Ride 13 – I run decently in the R13s, but something is off in them for me. I am still not sure what it is about them. They seem comfortable when I do my easy runs (which is what I got them for), but at the same time when I get done, I feel more beat up than I do running in other running shoes??? Perhaps I should put them away until it gets a little colder and see if I think differently about them.

What did I learn today?

Running in the heat/humidity just isn’t all that much fun. Which made my watching the Olympic Marathon performance that the women put on even more amazing. Congrats to all the runners who started in those conditions. The medalists did a fantastic job in terrible conditions and earned their podium time.

That I enjoy each birthday differently as they continue to add-up. I am more thankful for the people in my life and less worried about what I get as material gifts. Although, a new pair of Carbon X2s will make things interesting, along with some new running accessories. 🙂

Thank you again everyone for being a part of another wonderful day in the life that I have.