Tuesdays are for running and wine

Yup just like the title says, nothing makes my Tuesday more perfect that going for a run and doing some wine tasting afterwards. The run group I belong to  happens to have its start/finish location right next to a wine store, which graciously sets up wine tasting for all us sweaty, disgusting runners. (Tonight was French wine, delicious! I bought a bottle of white wine to go with the lime tilapia I’m going to make this week).

Back to the run though. I mentioned in my first post that I was struggling with running in the heat and humidity. This spring I was working on keeping my pace at a solid 8:30 over 5+ miles, and my end goal was to be able to hold an 8 minute mile for a half marathon in September. That was what I planned to be training to. But then the heat and humidity hit. 100+ days with intense humidity. I could not hang. And by that I mean, all the long distance running I was trying to work up to, the paces I was trying to hit? Unattainable. For weeks I struggled to push myself to run even 5 miles (a distance that in the spring had been easy). I couldn’t even do that. I cried, yes, actually cried on several occasions because I would push myself to hold onto a pace for the first couple of miles (yes, in 100 degree weather) and then be totally burnt out and have nothing left for the way back. And I would have to stop. And walk.  So finally I gave up. I stopped trying to keep the pace that I thought I should. I stopped trying to run the distance I thought I should. I left my garmin forerunner (my favorite running accessory, next to my ipod) at home. And I concentrated on just running for fun.

I’d like to say that I instantly loved running again. That I’ve had the best runs of my life since I ditched my garmin this summer. Unfortunately that’s not true. It’s still a struggle for me to run in this heat, and this summer has been hard on me because I’m used to running and seeing almost instant improvement in my times. In the past, I’ve loved the way running has made me feel. Not this summer. It’s all I can do to make myself lace up my running shoes (currently Nike frees) and get out the door. But ditching the garmin and decreasing the mileage has helped, some. To balance it out I’ve upped my crossfit workouts and started working out more on my own.

So for now, I’m just pushing myself to get out and run 3 times a week, and not worry about the distance or pace. As long as I put in the work, eventually the speed and distance will come. (This is what I keep telling myself during every exhausting foot step).  I’m holding out for September, when things start to cool down.

 

Have you ever gone through a tough phase when you hated running? What did you do to love it again?

After a particularly hard run