If you’ve been reading for a while, you might be thinking “Why is your blog called ‘Runners Fly’ when all you talk about is books, cats, pumpkins and football?” Okay, okay… I’m linking up with Marcia for her monthly Runfessions. Let’s talk about running!
The first thing I have to runfess is… it’s hot here. Ha! No kidding. It’s Florida in August. We’ll be in the 90s (with “feels like” temps in the 100s) until the end of October. Running is all about heat management. It’s bearable first thing in the morning, and if I’m running later, I use ice. On Tuesday I ran 10 miles, and wasn’t able to get started until after I dropped my daughter at school. After five miles I stopped at my car, where I had ice in the cooler. Ice went into my bra (and I held ice cubes in my hands as well) as I started the second half of the run. It works well- but I’m looking forward to the days where I won’t end every run completely drenched from sweat and melted ice.
Next runfession: I’m in a race conundrum. I’m signed up for a race in March (the same one I did last year on my birthday) but I don’t have anything on the schedule before then. I had originally planned to do a 50K in November that was close to where I live, but that race was cancelled (grr). It’s tricky to find another race, because it involves taking time off from work, and I’m already taking other days off around the holidays.
There’s a 50K I could run at the end of January, but it depends on whether or not my daughter makes all state. I can’t take time off for both- if she makes all state, I’ll have my annual January Tampa trip. If she doesn’t, I’ll run that race.
The last thing I’ll runfess is that my “hip” pain has settled firmly into my hamstring, the EXACT SAME pain I had a couple years ago. Remember that? My hamstring just ached all the time. Running didn’t seem to make it better or worse. I even ran a 50 mile race and it hurt the entire time. I had several treatments and adjustments from my chiropractor, but the thing that finally relieved it was that I stopped doing all hamstring-focused strength training. I cut out lunges, split squats, Bulgarian split squats, deadlifts- anything that put stress on the muscle in the eccentric position.
I ran pain-free for about a year, and then! I decided I “should” be doing lunges, and guess what… the pain is back. Needless to say I have once again stopped the offending exercises- don’t ask me why, but apparently my body doesn’t like lunges- and I’m hoping this achy hamstring will go away, as it did before.
Is it still hot where you are?
Do you have any races coming up?
Do you like lunges? – No! They are evil!!!
Top photo by Rajiv Bajaj on Unsplash
