Positive Running

Got a good night sleep, which I needed.  Then recovered all day, which I needed.  I wanted to stretch and do some yoga poses, but ran out of time.

Ran with Wesley at 12:40 p.m. - 1:48 p.m. for 8-miles north of the Arkansas River in approximately 90 degree weather with the dew point at 65.  I'm amazed at the condition Wesley is in.  In extreme heat, Wesley can run as fast as ever and without a water bottle.  We started strong at a pace under 8 minutes per mile, but I slowed considerably after the 4th mile.  I took approximately a one minute break at mile 4 and turned back while Wesley continued to run for a longer distance.  I stopped for brief walks (under 10 seconds each) on 4 separate times at 5, 6, 6.5 and 7 miles; and consumed a 20 ounce bottle of Powerade.  Wesley caught up with me at the Broadway bridge and we each felt good after we finished.  A year ago, I could not have done that, but now it would be good to do an afternoon run every week or two throughout the summer to acclimate to hot weather.

Our buddy Travis is running in the heat in Florida in Air Force Reserve training.  While I was running, I was thinking of how Travis is doing in their afternoon runs.  Travis is young, fast and strong, so I'm sure he's doing well.

Ran 8 miles with Kevin, including 3/4 mile doing 9 uphill runs. We ran a 3.2 mile warm-up on by the Arkansas River.  Then, we ran hill repeats on a 125 meter section of Overlook Drive, one of the steepest roads in Little Rock.  We each ran up hill fairly fast.  Kevin ran the hill in about 45 seconds each time, and I ran the hill between 55 and 60 seconds each time.  We ran up the hill, and jogged slowly down it to recover, then repeated that sequence.   After 9 hill repeats (about 2500 meters including the downhill jogging), we ran the 3.2 miles again to cool down.  By the last hill repeat, we were each really struggling to complete the hill at the pace we were running.  But our goal is to extend the distance of the hill segment we run by August from 125 meters to 200 meters.

On an 80 degree morning with a dew point of 66, Wesley and I ran 14.5 miles from downtown Little Rock to the Big Dam Bridge in West Little Rock and back to downtown Little Rock.  The course runs along the north side of the Arkansas River.  Wes could have run at least a couple miles per minute faster, but I slowed us to approximately an 8:20 per minute pace.  Not sure why, but it seemed like we were moving faster than usual in the first 7.25 miles because the time just flew by.  Maybe everything else just was more still than normal.

By the time we reached the 7.25 mile point, my running shoes were soaking wet with sweat.  Running in wet shoes slows me down a bit.  To prevent dehydration, I drank 20-ounces of Powerade and about another 12-ounces of water.  I felt very good after the run and did not have any signs of calf cramps or other muscle cramps. 

Two months ago, I could not have run that far in 80 degree heat without cramping, so I was pleased with the run.  Need to run that 14.5 mile course once each mid-week until mid-September, then increase the distance to 16-miles to build my base.  Running with Wes is making me a much stronger runner.

On a hot morning with temps around 80 degrees and a dew point of 70, Kevin and I ran 9 miles at an 8 min per mile pace on the trail north of the Arkansas River.  We started strong averaging about 7:45 min per mile and I ended running about 8:10 per mile while Kevin ran the last three miles at about 7:45 per mile.  Kevin wanted to run hard because he had only run on Tuesday this week, when we did hill repeats.  Once I reached downtown Little Rock, I ran an extra half mile while Kevin ran to his new gym by the Arkansas State Capitol Building. 

Ran 11-miles on the north side of the Arkansas River with Alex Wan.  It was a warm 80 degree morning, but it rained for approximately 10-minutes which caused the temperature to decrease to the 70s for about 45 minutes.  By the time we were done, the temperature was up to 83 degrees.  We ran 8 quarter mile intervals between 82 and 90 seconds each. 

Alex had strained his hamstring while canoeing down the Buffalo River, since the water level is so low.  During the last quarter mile interval, Alex's strained hamstring caught up to him.  So after running 11 miles, we walked for 7 miles back to our cars. 

It was a great walk.  Alex is from Malaysia, has travelled the world significantly, and is very interesting to run and walk with.  We talked about the medicinal benefits of ice baths and ice packs, different running events, qualifying for Boston, foods to eat, places to see, massages and spas, and towns where we have relatives living.  It was a good time!