Sunday June 30, 2017
As I enter the last full week of July, I can honestly say I am tired of the humidity and so is my body. The first 3 weeks of training have been productive but I’m starting to feel the fatigue of summer setting in. Coming into training I knew what to expect since this isn’t my first summer in Phoenix, but can we ever truly be 100% ready for this?
Here is a look at how the week came together including a review on some new earbuds!
Monday– easy run
What an entrance to the 4th week… rain! We finally got a good amount of rain in our area on Sunday evening as well as Monday morning. It rained steady for the first mile which felt good as temperatures dropped to the mid 70’s. Then the rain stopped and it felt miserable almost as if we were running inside of a sauna.
I put in 6 miles and my legs felt like rubber. My foot was also giving me some issues. I’m wearing the new insoles as mentioned last week and although its early in the testing phase, it may be part of the issue? I struggled this morning.. aside from the horrible humidity I just feel wore down and tired. In the end, it wasn’t pretty but completed and I can walk away feeling a sense of accomplishment.
Tuesday– Track day or “Sauna Day”
83 degrees with 79% humidity… this equates to 91 degrees!
This was an extremely tough day at the oval office! I did not hit my target and was a little suspect of hitting it the day before but thought I’d give it a go. Well, as it turns out my 2 x 1 milers were tough to sustain the pace that I was hoping to achieve. I did push and get faster on the 2nd but it took everything I had. I ended with an 800 and 400 to complete the workout. The 400 came on the heels of Carrie who helped convince me to run one hard one.. .thanks Carrie it helped having you out there.
After the run my phone said 87 degrees and 79% humidity which comes out to 102 degrees! No wonder I was struggling. When I got home, I weighed myself (I weighed before I left) and I lost 3 lbs of sweat! I definitely need to put back the fluids.. thankfully its over but a feeling of accomplishment is what it’s all about!
Thursday– Easy run (Treadmill)
I put miles on the treadmill this morning for several reasons… To ease the pounding on my left foot and to get out of the heat. I want to have fresher legs heading into my long runs and the treadmill provides less stress on the body while giving me the miles. I think the treadmill will be a good break once a week. The run went well but I was experimenting with my Garmin and put in on the indoor function. With this function it actually calculated my distance but it was not accurate. The treadmill said I ran 4 miles while Garmin had me at 3.54 miles.. that’s a huge discrepancy! Nonetheless, I got an easy 4 in and followed up with a nice long stretch and roll and off to work!
Saturday– Long run
Woke up Saturday morning feeling ready as ever… I had 10 miles on the dock and flat grounds along the Western Canal Path. I decided to drive to the YMCA in Tempe for my OB (out and back) route. I started just before 5am and had my hydration and new earbuds… review alert! Let me digress for a bit. A few weeks ago, my Beats wireless earbuds stopped working with the functions on the cord that control the volume and playlist went kaput! Then part of the cover came right off the cord shortly before heading out for my long run last weekend. I ran with it but lets just say that when you’re running, the last thing you need is to mess with your music and have to stop.
Let me preface this by saying I only wear music on my long runs and on some short easy runs, but rarely so I refrain from wearing it altogether. Don’t get me wrong, music is a great motivator but I believe we need to listen to our bodies especially on the easy and recovery runs when it’s about leg turnover vs. trying to pump ourselves up for a fast run while listening to your favorite hits.
After last weekends long run, I went on a quest to replace my Beats. After visiting a few stores, I came across Yurbuds which are part of JBL, a very reputable audio company. I wanted to find some less expensive earbuds and switch back to the wired vs. wireless for an increase sound output.
These looked sharp and it was on sale for under $25! a nice price point. Best of all it said it was “guaranteed” to never fall out of your ears! Their patented TwistLock design sounded intriguing and worth a shot. Sound to good to be true for a product under $25? Sure, I was skeptical and after scouring the shelves full of earphones and earbuds, I decided to go with the Yurbuds Inspire 300 in black.
Wow! let me say that these earbuds lived up to the hype! It was very comfortable from the get go and even though the sound may not be as crisp as the more expensive earphones/earbuds and headphones on the market, these put out very good sound with a little more bass to it which I like vs. high treble tones. Plus they have a cool feature called QuikClik, a tangle-free magnet that holds the earbuds together… no more tangling cords!
Bye bye tangled cords!
Check out this review on youtube… click HERE
This morning, I did my 10 miler with them on and they did not fall out, shift, or irritate me one bit. The silicone cover over the earbuds is solid and even after sweating a ton on my run, these guys stayed in! I also have to commend Yurbuds for their customer service as stated by above review. If your earbuds (they come in 2 sizes) don’t fit to your ears, simply call them and they will send out a size that fits you FREE! I did just that and I should be receiving a new size next week! So far this was a great buy and I didn’t have to spend too much on it. If there was one thing I would have liked on this model, it would be a volume control. You have to move up to the Inspire 400’s which have a slightly different build with the controls near your neck… reviews were mixed on these. So there you have it, if you’re in the market for a new set of earbuds I strongly recommend the Yurbuds Inspire 300!
As for the long run… In a nutshell it went better than last week. I hit my mark and had a very good run. I needed this boost not only physically, but also mentally to give me some confidence heading into a cutback week and a 5K race next weekend.
I felt tired afterwards but not beat up like the hills last week. After the run, I headed off to the gym for a short strength training workout and a nice roll and stretch routine.
Sunday– Recovery run
Sunday morning was nothing but breathing the thick air of humidity.. YUCK! Low 80’s but 70% humidity which is just thick air and not fun running in it. Luckily, I was just doing my recovery run following the long run. Nothing to write home about, good turnover and running on tired legs which is beneficial during the latter stages of a race when I can recall these moments into action.
Overall, a good week and now I can use the upcoming week as a cutback week as I do a 5K race next weekend. I’m excited about it and hope to run an honest race and put in a good effort.
Also, this morning Carrie took part in a local 3K race which is put on by our friend Flash who was also Carrie’s Cross Country Coach at Gateway. It’s a challenging cross-country course here in Ahwatukee that Flash sets up a few times in the summer that involves a sandy wash, hills, and rolling grass hills. This was Carries day, she won the overall females division and came home with a basket of goodies which included a pair of movie tix, organic treats, gift cert to Sole Sports all wrapped up in a popcorn bin.. Great race Carrie!
There you have it.. 4 weeks of training behind me and that much closer to Quad cities! I can’t wait until then when the lows are typically in the 50’s and possibly 40’s, that I truly welcome!
n2running 