Sunday, July 5, 2020

It's Feeling Hot Hot Hot and Humid


Anyone else feeling #HotHotHot this week?

Summer does get hot in Iowa, and we certainly have our fair share of humidity. We usually get an intermittent day (or a few) with reduced dampness in the air...but that wasn't the case this week. It is what it is, and I'll gladly take this over sub-freezing temps and snow. I'm just grateful my body can tolerate it. 

That said, it was another week of outdoor daily fitness. Hey, if I'm gonna get my "glow"on, I might as well be outside with the sunshine and fresh air. 

Before I share all the details, welcome to the Weekly Run Down!

I love hosting this link-up with Deborah (from Confessions of a Mother Runner)! If you write a fitness-based blog, you're invited to join the party. The link-up opens at 1:00 (EST) on Sundays and remains open through noon on Monday. We love reading about everyone's weekly fitness endeavors, training highlights (or low lights) and race recaps. We ask that you link back to both hosts, and we encourage you to read/comment on the other linked blogs as well...please don't link-drop & dash ;-)


Anyways, here's what went down in my little world of fitness this hot (and humid) week:

Never miss a Monday
I didn't have anything specific on the plan (my marathon cancelled, don't forget), so I thought it would be fun to do a few miles with 1/4-mile surges.The temps were 73F (with a lovely 90% humidity at 5:30 a.m.), so I kept the pace relatively easy and did the surges at the end of each mile. Three miles for the #SweatEquity bank and my morning was complete while most of the town was still asleep.


Typical Tuesday = recovery day
My early morning walk took me down a different path. Honestly, there's not much to be gained by doing the same routine day after day, right? Several of our city blocks have alleys that go through them, and I often neglect walking or running down them. The terrain isn't as smooth, but the views are nice! There also was a spontaneous 10-mile bike ride after work with one of my co-workers.


Wednesday's surprise weather (thanks, Momma N!)
As of Tuesday evening, Wednesday was looking rainy and stormy, beginning around 4:00 in the morning. Barb and I jokingly set our alarms for the weekly #5at5 run, knowing it probably wouldn't be happening (75% chance of storms were in the forecast). Imagine my surprise to wake up with nothing happening, and my app showed a mere 15% chance of precip! Of course, the air still had 97% humidity, but the temps were 68F. Some rain did fall mid-morning, but that was it for the day. And we ran those five miles with a 9:15ish pace, so take that, Humidity! 

Easy-does-it Thursday
There was yoga on deck, quite literally, for Thursday morning. Well, there also was some intermittent arm and shoulder strength work as well. And, maybe a 2-mile walk before heading to the office. All was calm, all was bright. Everything felt great!


Later, after work, I felt like a bike ride. I have not been out on the hilly trail yet this season, just saying. I didn't have time to ride the complete route to the lake (15-mile round trip), so I compromised and rode out about halfway, which still gave me two decent-sized hills. I was at 8.5 miles when I got back to town, so I looped around a few random streets (and another shorter trail...with a couple small hills LOL) and finished the ride at 10 miles. Have I mentioned how good biking feels on low-maintenance days?


Major double-workout day for Friday
With the day off from work, and a 5K race happening on Saturday, Barb and I got out for eight early-morning miles. Holy heat and humidity, Batman! Even with the 68F temps, the humidity was already at 89% at 6:00. I'm glad I brought along some water.


The hubby wanted to check out a bike trail, about 30 miles away, so we loaded up the bikes and took a short road trip to the Chichaqua Valley Trail. We didn't get there until noon, but the majority of the trail had shade cover. The advantage of riding a rail trail is there are no menacing hills. There are plenty of gentle inclines/declines, but nothing too strenuous. That being said, with no major hills, there's almost constant pedaling. My bike computer's sensor got bumped, so at mile 14.04, the odometer stopped working...which threw me into a slight panic. Our destination town was 22.3 miles from where we'd started, but it was unnerving not knowing exactly how far we had to go as we pedaled the remainder of the way there. After having lunch, we adjusted the sensor on the tire, and the computer came back to life. It turns out, it was actually 23.37 miles back to our starting point....so that gave us just under 47 total miles (round trip) for the ride. By the way, these were mountain bikes we were riding, not road bikes. So, yeah, that was my longest ride, ever, and I was extremely tired and cranky in the final 3-4 miles.  

4th of July - a live race on Saturday!
We've run the Sully Freedom Days 5K many times before. The race director decided, about four weeks ago, to go ahead with the race this year, but with social distancing in force and limited registrations allowed. The hubby, Barb and I wasted no time in registering. Of course, in keeping with the #hothothot theme of the week, the heat and humidity were clear and present on race day (85F feels like). I wasn't sure how my legs (or those of the hubby's) would hold up after Friday's l.o.n.g. bike ride, but all went surprisingly well. Although it felt like I was dragging (and succumbed to a 15-second walk break in the final 1/4 mile), my 26:35 finish time got me a 3rd place AG. The hubby got 2nd in his age division, and Barb captured a 1st place AG! Oh, and the irony? I was so excited to pin on that race bib, that I totally forgot to bring the Garmin along (or my music)...so this was a "naked" race experience. Maybe I'm on to something...


Sunrise stair-climbing on Sunday
The hubby had been out of town a few days during the week, so we hadn't done any stair work. By Saturday evening, my body was feeling pretty fatigued (biking DOMS?). When I woke up Sunday morning, I knew a (somewhat) low-maintenance day was in order. We did a 1-mile walk, climbed 30 flights on the outdoor stairway, and walked another mile afterwards. Temps, again were warm and the humidity was already oppressive...but it felt good to get the legs moving, and a little (or a lot of) sweat never hurt no one. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.


All in all, I'm pretty happy with the week. Running saw 20 miles and walking had 17 miles (probably more on tap for Sunday afternoon/evening). The mileage champ this week, though, was biking...Gustavas and I cycled 67 miles! There also was the daily planking, daily walking, some yoga and an upper-body strength session.    

In case you missed out, here's what went down on the blog this week:

In other news:

Friday Fashion Flair!  Since the hubby and I were out all afternoon, doing the biking thing, I featured my Thursday  outfit. I'll never apologize for my patriotism, and dug out this sleeveless turtleneck from the depths of my closet. It was a great mix of cool (sleeveless) and warmth (to combat the air conditioning). By the way, I did wear shoes to the office LOL. As always, you're welcome to join me on Fridays...post a pic on Instagram, grab the hashtag (#FridayFashionFlair) and be sure to tag me (@runningonthefly).


My June totals were satisfactory

Finally, I'm continuing my trek across Iowa. As of this morning, my total miles are at 195. Of those miles, 105 are running miles (since June 2nd) and 90 are walking miles. I will easily pass the 245 mark (by August 10th) with my combined miles, but am hoping to accumulate 245 total running miles by then. I'm not going to obsess over it, though, since all of my walking miles are legit "intentional" miles and I usually walk them around 14-14:30 pace.

So, another week all wrapped up, and packaged with a bow. We definitely are in the heat of summer in Iowa, and I'm good with that.

How was your week? Getting hot and humid in your area as well? Any live races happening yet? Are you staying active, and staying safe?

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36 comments:

  1. It's been quite cool here this weekend which was handy as I had a half-marathon attempt and a virtual race with a real medal collected from a real person to conquer! And ... I've got a blog post ready to link in an hour!

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  2. That's so exciting that you got to do a "live" race! Happy 4th and happy "glowing". No matter what the weather, it's good to get outside.

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    1. I agree...I will always choose to get outside whenever possible.

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  3. Sleeveless turtlenecks were so invented for office AC.
    WELL DONE all of you on Saturday, especially after your active Fridays.
    I swear the hourly forecast is a guess. At least here there's the escuse of the river knocking it off, but really? Nice to have it wrong in your favor so you could run.

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    1. Thanks, Cari ;-) Friday was insane, especially with that long bike ride in the heat. I'm very thankful Saturday went so well

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  4. Congrats on the race!! We have social distancing races starting back up. I did not do the Fourth 5K because of guests in town, but my spring race is now scheduled for August with social distancing protocols in place. It's exciting to think about live races again, even if there are special adjustments like staggered start times and small fields.

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    1. This race is usually quite a bit bigger, and usually with a lot more crowd support. BUT, they were able to make it work, so it all was good.

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  5. Congrats on that AG award! How ... bizarre ... to have a real race now. :-) Seriously, it’s great that they were able to hold the race. Nice bike ride too - was there any shade? That path looks sunny!

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    1. Thankfully, Iowa isn't quite the danger zone it is elsewhere...but we still are respecting all the safety protocols (well, most of us are). The trail we rode on was about 80% shaded, so that made the heat/humidity more bearable.

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  6. We had a hot week, too but I run early in the morning so it's not as hot as it could be. And I still prefer the heat to the cold! Great job on the race! I am going to do another virtual one (a 10k) in August but that's all I have going on here.

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    1. Yes, I much prefer the heat over the cold. Hands-down.

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  7. wow you sure did have an intense week! How exciting to do an actual race again. Congrats on the AG award too!

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  8. I'm surprised you had a live race! There's nothing scheduled here. You did well, especially after your long bike ride.

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    1. Well, the RD waited until about a month ago to officially decide to keep the race on as scheduled, but with all kinds of COVID safety restrictions in place. It's a small event, so there wasn't a huge crowd of runners, and only a fraction of crowd support in comparison to years past.

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  9. That's funny about forgetting your music & Garmin! I wouldn't forget the Garmin, as it's my fitness tracker & HR monitor, so I wear it 24/7. I wonder what I would forget?

    That trail you walked on looks lovely!

    Your weather always takes a few days to reach us. Our week was very rainy, but we really needed the rain so it's all good!

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    1. Honestly, it wasn't until we got out of the car, and were walking to get our packets, that I realized I didn't have my Garmin on, and the music was back home with it. Oh well...things worked out fine without those luxuries ;-)

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  10. Great job on your race! I had a good week too. The head and humidity is horrible but there isn't much I can do about it. I do get out early because if I don't then it is just worse.

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    1. I h ave to get out early in order to get to work by 8:00, so that definitely helps me avoid some of the heat.

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  11. Great job on your race! That heat and humidity is killer lately...but I am really trying not to complain, haha :) It's still so much easier to throw on a sports bra and shorts and head out the door vs.all the worry about ice in the winter!

    The trail looks very pretty!

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    1. It definitely got humid last week...but I'm not complaining, either LOL

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  12. Yup! Super hot and humid here this week as well and I hated it lol.

    You had such a busy weekend - talk about an epic Saturday!

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    1. By Saturday night, I was beat...kind of glad we didn't have any cookouts or fireworks to go to.

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  13. Congrats on actually running in a live race and the three of you each snagging age group places!

    Thanks for the linkup and have a great week!

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    1. Thanks, Debbie!! The live race was fun...even though I'd forgotten a few things back home LOL

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  14. Congrats again on your AG (and to your hubby and Barb as well)! How nice to run a real race gain!

    The heat and humidity were so thick this week and the upcoming weeks looks like more of the same. Stay cool!

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    1. Yeah, we have more heat and humidity on tap for this week as well.

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  15. Great week of activity and wowza on a real race! None of the sort is happening around here. Yep very warm and humid here too, with no end in sight and that's a-ok with me.

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    1. I'm alright with the heat and humidity, too. Summer is so short here, I'm glad to just be outside and not trapped inside.

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  16. Wow, a real race?? Crazy stuff. Congrats on the race. We have had a few races that were very close to happening but none have yet. Nothing real scheduled yet. I've been pretty happy with not racing lately. Racing seems like a bit of unnecessary pressure on me. But I'm sure as soon as they start up I'll be filled with FOMO and will get back at it!

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    1. This race almost didn't happen. The RD decided just a few weeks ago that it could go on. They limited the number of registrations, etc., so it all worked well with the COVID safety measures in place.

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  17. It seems like it was hot everywhere this week! Thats alot of biking miles- especially on Friday. How exciting that you got to run a real race this weekend! Congrats on your AG award!

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  18. A live race. That is so exciting.

    I can't wait!!

    My Half PR is when my Garmin stopped. So you never know.

    GL with your hot humid runs...it is summer and better than snow and ice.

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  19. Congrats on the 5k. Nice run! I can't believe you were that speedy the day after an 8 mile run AND a 40+-mile bike ride. You are in great shape!

    I have never worn my Garmin in a race yet and I usually don't look at my watch until the end. I love the "naked" feeling.

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  20. I am so excited you got to experience a real race! Feels like hope, you know?

    This morning actually wasn't super awful. I mean, it's always hot and humid but some days just feel wore than others.

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