Last week was a toughie. With temperatures hovering around 100 degrees for the last half of the week and weekend and heat indexes reaching 115, running outside was trying. Our Wednesday workout was the much-anticipated Mormon Hill run and it was as much of a killer as I expected, partly because of the long, steep hill and partly because the heat and humidity made it feel like 105 degrees at 6pm. Here's a virtual hill run I put together for you.
Then we ran the hill two more times. I felt like my Wednesday running lesson was brought to me by the letter H: the heat, humidity and hill schooled me. On Friday, I ran on the treadmill for the first time in two years.
Our long run on Sunday was no cake walk either. When I woke up at 5:00am, it was 80 degrees with 80% humidity and a 73 degree dew point. Help me, Rhonda. The run went along as planned, albeit with more and longer water breaks. The 16-mile route took us from Bethesda to Union Station in DC via Hains Point, the island between the Potomac River and Washington Channel. Hains Point was both longer and more exposed than I expected, but the National Park Service must have felt bad for us because they lined the entire road around the park with sprinklers. I didn't mind that the water was being pumped out of the Potomac or that some of the sprinklers weren't so much misting us as pelting us right at eye and ear level. It made miles 10 through 13 bearable. Heck, it made the rest of the run more bearable. After running 16 miles in those weather conditions, I feel like I am truly (at least mentally) ready for the marathon.
This is my running schedule for the rest of the week:
I feel you lady....this heat is killing me.
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