This week I “wogged” 10 miles in high temperatures and high humidity. What is a “wog” you might ask? It’s a combination of walking and jogging. I laughed when I saw it in someone else’s blog and I think it’s very descriptive for slow runners like myself.
But back to the heat and humidity that I experienced this week. I’ve read that running in this type of weather won’t get me a PR but it will help me in the Fall. That’s a long time to wait! Especially as Fall in Houston comes late and doesn’t last for very long.
My run on Tuesday was 3.1 miles with short warm up and cool down walks. I ran in a nearby neighborhood that has lots of trees and tried to stay on whichever side of the street that had the most shade. My run wasn’t fast nor was it pretty. It seems like I could hardly go 1/4 mile before my body was screaming at me to stop. I carried water with me but my water bottle wasn’t easy to hold and the water warmed up very fast. Several times during this run I just wanted to quit and go home…but I finished 3.1 miles in 47 minutes. Maybe I should have just crawled. The good news is that I was able to put my legs in the swimming pool when I got home!
On Thursday I wimped out and just walked my 3 miles on the treadmill. I don’t add this to my monthly mileage but at least my step counts for the week were respectable. I just couldn’t bring myself to get outside in the heat!
Saturday, however, I ran 4 miles! Coach Joan said that this week was an easy run, out and back. We were told to go over to Woodhead Street and head south. The experienced runners were to go all the way to where the road dead-ends (at Bissonnet), others were to run to the bridge overpass at Highway 59, and I’m not sure where the walkers were supposed to turn around. Coach Joan looked at me, Kathryn and Connie and said that we should go “all the way.” But we don’t consider ourselves to be the “experienced runners” so we complained a bit and told Coach Joan that it would kill us!
Kathryn, Connie and I left Luke’s Locker together and decided to warm up by walking over to Woodhead. Once we got there, we started a slow run. In a short while, Connie and I got in the groove and Kathryn was a little behind us, running with someone else. We ran all the way to Westheimer before we had our first walk break (as we had to stop for the light). Eventually we made it to the 59 overpass. I’m not sure if it was a good idea or not, but Coach Julie was there and told us it was only another 1/2 mile to the end. Basically if we turned around and went back, it was about 3 miles but if we continued it would be a 4-mile run.
About this time, the heat and humidity was getting to me, but Connie and I were determined to go all the way. And we made it! The road dead-ended at Bissonnet and the house across the road had a huge tree directly in front of us. I told Connie that it would be official when we touched the tree!! It was a great feeling…but then we had to run back!
We took more walk breaks on the way back but our pace didn’t slow down too much. We averaged about 13:55 on the way down and 14:07 on the return leg – -so even though it seemed like we were going more slowly, we actually did okay. It did tell me, however, that I need to start bringing water with me now that it’s so hot outside. I know that I could have run a bit more had I been properly hydrated.
We were the last runners back to Luke’s and the rest of the runners were just finishing up doing sprints. After cooling down and having some water, everyone was finished with the workout. I asked Coach Joan what I missed so that I could make it up in Sunday’s workout, but she said that she would stay outside with me if I wanted to do the sprints. Two of the girls that had already finished said that they would do the sprints with me so I called Connie over to come do them too! That way we could finish the entire workout. The sprints consisted of running about 100 yards as fast as we could, then walking back and doing it all over again. It reminded me that just over 6 months ago – I could barely run 100 yards – and now I’m doing 100 yards sprints after a 4-mile run!!
I’m really proud that I did everything that Coach Joan had planned for us today – even though it was miserably hot and humid. Next weekend is the end of this session’s 9 to 5 class and we’re running the Heights #RuntheBLVD 5k. I hope that I can actually run and not ‘wog’ most of the mileage. I know that I’m going to give it a good try.
Awesome write up – you are such a great encourager…that was a hard run and I’m glad we pushed through. You definitely help me stick to Coach Joan’s plan – thank you!