Saturday, July 10, 2010

Finally, Runner friendly weather!

For the past week, we've experienced a heat wave alert. Temperatures rising up as far as 33 degrees, but in face feels like it's 42 degrees. Just too hot to run.

Today, however, after a good shower on the friday, it was running appropriate weather. I know, rain or shine, but, the heat ... just doesn't work too well with me. Last week, we actually did a 19km hike in Rouge Hill Valley. At the time, I will like to say in our defense, we didn't realize there was a heat alert going on. Our starting point was a short walk (so we thought) from my friend's place, up on to Sheppard and Kingston Rd. It took us an astounding 45 minutes to walk ... 2 km? The rest of the hike did not bold too well for us either. Each of us had 2L of iced water in our hydration packs, some snacks, and of course our caps and cell phones. Energy already on the low (by the disappointment of the time it took us to get to the start path), the remaining of the hike was much slower than our previous practice hikes - approx. 4 hours.

My friend Madeline needed to return home by 1pm, and we had just finished the hike at that time - just at the starting point of the trail. Which meant that we still had to 2 km to hike through - sun, heat, glaring down at us, we opted in the end to use our cell phones and.. call a cab :-) We were back at her house in give or take 5 minutes. Ah if only we could sprout wheels beneath our shoes..

Today, I was back in business with running - cool air had once again returned! I had my usual breakfast, although with a slight twist -- smoked ham! I went through my usual routine, water to water belt, key check, cell, etc. I added some more running music to my ipod, something 'epic marathon music' remix. I also strapped on another support band for my right knee. Yep, Now I've got one on each leg :( I also got a free sample of this "rock tape", its suppose to also work similarly as a support band - except obviously it's tape. I think I will keep it with me just in case as backup stuff for our team hike - which by the way is about 2 weeks away! Yay!! I'm both excited and filled with anxiety! 100km, hiking from Barrie to Orillia..

So, anyway, lol, got side tracked there. I got to the beach and did my run, this time only for 16km - I thought it best to keep it easier for myself considering I had done no running all week. And also, it would be my first time running on pavement vs. the boardwalk. Hurray though, I managed it in 2 hours 10 minutes. Ok time, not the best. I could push for better. One step at a time. Sort of a warm up. And of course, I need to be sure I'm A-Ok for the hike, I wouldn't want to let my teammates down!

Next: Yoga on Monday! My friends Susan and Angela invited me to try out Moshka Yoga. I have only tried Bikram Hot Yoga, so I'm pretty excited to see what its like.