Thursday, August 2, 2012

Self Unrecognizable

Yours truly has been undergoing some amorphous changes over the past few weeks.  I hardly recognize myself these days!


OK, maybe not quite THAT amorphous or THAT unrecognizable.

(I hope.)

To elaborate on my amorphous changes: 
I used to do ALL of my weekday training runs in the late afternoon or early evening, and my weekend long runs starting at 8:00 or 8:30 AM.  I also used to struggle to get to the office by 8:45 AM most mornings.  (Maybe "struggle" is not a strong enough description.  More aptly, I used to scream bloody murder when the alarm clock went off on weekday mornings.)

However, in the past few weeks I've been able to get up at 5:45 AM with relative ease to go running before work.  I have been getting into the office by 8:00 or 8:15.  And I have been starting most of my weekend long runs anywhere between 6:00 AM and 6:30 AM.

Woo hoo!

Yes, I will freely admit that these amorphous changes have been driven by necessity.  In short, the brutal summer heatwave we've been experiencing has made me realize that I can either get up at the crack of dawn to run in relatively cooler temps... or I can sleep in and then go running in conditions that would make igneous lava rock turn back into liquid hot magma.

I have seen regular occurrences of liquid hot magma oozing along the sidewalks this past summer.  Haven't you?

On second thought, does the picture of the liquid hot magma remind you of the amorphous blob picture above?  (I always said that I didn't believe in coincidences... but I digress.)

Beyond the fiery heat, last week I started a new career (which has been awesome!) and these first few weeks have required some heavy work hours.  I've been getting home too late each night to go running after work.  Therefore the only time to get my runs in has been early in the morning.

Finally - I've been driving to my new office these past few weeks because of my long workdays.  Parking is at a premium unless you get there early.  More motivation!

Dare I say that I am starting to morph into a morning person?

Parting the Red Sea

Another case in point: I met Erin this morning at 6:00 AM to go running before work.  When I do early-morning weekday runs alone, I usually push myself to do about 3 miles and then call it a running day.  I had every intention of doing the same thing today.  However, this morning I experienced how much faster the miles can tick by when you have good company.  Erin and I effortlessly knocked out almost 5 miles!  And I felt awesome for the rest of the day!

I am liking this early morning routine.  I wonder if I can keep this up all the time?  Of course, come winter, it might be more of a challenge.  But let's not think about that yet.

On a final note...
To this point, my longest ever distance run has been 13.25 miles.  But I have a 15-mile long run on the docket for this weekend.  I have also registered for the CARA Ready to Run 20-Miler.  Excluding stepback weeks, every successive long run from now until the marathon will be a personal distance record for me.

We are officially down to where the rubber meets the road!

7 comments:

  1. Sounds like good changes! Running in the morning (esp during the summer) is a big improvement over afternoon running, even if it is hard to pull yourself out of bed.

    And yeay for running with someone else! The time really does fly. Just thinking about it is making me miss the running buddy I had during the school year. I guess I should call her up and make her run with me.*

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    1. Thanks Amy! It is amazing how productive you feel after getting the run out of the way early in the morning! And yes - give your ol' running buddy a call, she probably misses you as much as you miss her!

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  2. If we keep meeting for morning runs I won't recognize myself, either!

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    1. Woo hoo!!!! =D

      Let me know the next time you are up for an early-morning run! Next week I'm planning to run on Tuesday and Thursday.

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  3. I'm the exact same way!!! I used to literally cry sometimes when my alarm went off before work (this was back in my summer internship days 2 years ago). Now, I admittedly still have some problems but most days don't mind waking up early to get my runs in before work. And I run my long weekend runs around the same time as you! It's crazy how people's habits change with age...

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    1. Ah yes, throughout my lifetime I have shed many tears when my alarm clock went off in the morning... It IS crazy how people's habits change with age! Back when I was in college I thought going to bed at midnight was "early." Now I am yawning if I am out past 11:00! Sigh...

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  4. Getting up early and getting stuff done makes me feel so awesome! But it is so so hard! I am happy you have been able to! Don't worry about winter yet! Just go with the flow and see what happens :)

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