91 & Humid + Long Run = HARD

I'm exhausted. I just got home from running 10 miles. Oy! Actually as I sit here and write this, I realize that I literally just got home . . . I need to stretch . . . be back in a few minutes . . .

OK, I'm back.
So today was my long run this week, and it was the longest yet, 10 miles. I expected that today's 10 miles would be an effort roughly equal to the first time that I ran 8 miles, maybe a bit tougher. I was wrong. It was a LOT tougher. For one thing, today is HOT HOT HOT, 91 and humid as this post's title suggests. Also I ran right in the middle of the day, leaving home a few minutes after 1pm . . . this was not smart. I should have run earlier in the day to avoid the worst of the heat.

In any case, it wasn't terrible, but I cheated a bit (sort of). Sara had me really freaked out about heat stroke and over-heating, etc. so I was trying to be really fully aware of how I was feeling so I didn't push myself too too hard. It will be increasingly important for me to learn to decipher the difference between discomfort and danger. So somewhere between the 7.5 and 8 mile mark I stopped, thinking that I'd call it quits. I thought felt a little light headed, and between Sara's warnings and the scary situation I had when I volunteered at a very hot race and was caring for a woman who collapsed, I was a little concerned (although I'm sure I would've been fine). I saw a vendor and got some water (I'd already finished the bottle of water I was carrying). But after drinking a bit of cooler water, I was feeling much better, so I decided to continue on. In all I think I stopped for 5 minutes, but I didn't walk, I was in one place . . . did I cheat too much? Thoughts?

Then I continued down the west side highway to 15th street and turned to go across town on 15th street. BAD IDEA. I need to stop running across town. I ended up stopping at each traffic light along the way and dodging pedestrians, movers, construction workers the whole way. It is simply much easier to run down the path and not have to stop every few feet. So at each avenue I had a bit of a rest break over the course of the last mile or so . . . Cheating??

In all, it was a fine first 10 miles. Harder than I expected, but not too difficult. I'm a little frustrated that I ended up stopping first for water and then so often going across town . . . but in the end I ran (not walked) each of the 10 miles eventually (even with little breaks in between) and I had a decent pace going. My route took me from the front of my building on 181st street down to 14th and 5th in Gramercy, a total distance of about 10.1 miles. I ran that in 1:29:06. That is an 8:50 pace per mile. This is most likely not completely accurate as I stopped my watch at my water break and each time I waited for lights at avenues. So when I was running I had a good pace, but factor in my stopped time and my pace drops significantly . . . oh well. Still not too bad.

The only other problem today was the train on the way back. As I've mentioned before, I don't like running out and back. I enjoy a good loop, but in my neighborhood I've found that I really prefer running in one direction. So for my long runs, that's what I've been doing. Today the A train took forever to arrive at 14th street, and then when it did come it was packed. After running 10 miles I was sweating like crazy and really smelly!!! I can't even begin to express how self-conscious I was on the train. Then to make it worse, I had to stand most of the way and the train simply crawled all the way up. ARGH. I think I'm going to start making my long runs out and back along the path and just gauge them so that I don't half to go up the crazy hills in the last half mile of a 15 mile run . . . or I'll have someone meet me downtown with stuff and I can shower downtown at my in-law's house or something . . . I need to figure something else out.

I'm beginning to get into some meatier runs now and I'm getting excited and nervous. This is going to be very hard work . . . but that shouldn't surprise me! Saturday I'm racing 4 miles . . . I'm hoping to set a PR and assuming nothing catastrophic happens, I'll hit the 300 mile mark!