Running Out of My Comfort Zone

I'm not being dramatic when I tell you it has been fire outside. We are still in June and if this is what summer will be like, take me back to winter. Sure the sun is shining, but it burns if you are out there too long. While I do love summer, I do not like the extreme heat. We've been in the 90s all week--we even broke a few records. We had some storms Saturday night, which brought a lot of rain and cooler temperatures. 

Meanwhile, I did get all my runs done outside! I just started a lot earlier than I normally do. A runner's gotta run, am I right? Running teaches us to push outside of our comfort zone and this week reminded me of that!

Weekly Rundown

Sunday: Ice Trail run 7.1 miles, waterskiing

Monday: CrossFit

Tuesday: Fluid Running

Wednesday: trail run 6 miles

Thursday: Strength Training

Friday: run 6 miles

Saturday: rest

We were up at the lake last weekend and I had plans to run the Gibraltar Segment of the Ice Age Trail. It stormed all night and when I woke up Sunday morning, it was still raining. I stalked the weather radar like a good runner and finally by 7:30, I saw that the rain was coming to an end. Once I got to the trailhead, the rain had slowed to a mist and there were patches of fog. It was very quiet and somewhat eerie but as always, very beautiful. The birds were singing but other than that, I had the trail to myself. I finished this very satisfying run and rewarded myself with a ride on my pretty pink waterski!

On Monday, the temperature shot up quickly and by the time I got to CrossFit, it was already in the upper 80s. It was warm in the gym, but the fans were blowing, which made it tolerable. The strength portion of the workout was 12 minutes on the clock of 8-10 rounds of plyometric pushups (I did strict), 10-12 banded face pulls, and 1-2 Turkish getups per side (I used a 10# dumbbell). I did 3 rounds of this before time was called. The MetCon was a 4 x 3:00 with 1:00 rest of 18 cal on the bike and 15 push press (I used a 35# barbell). I finished with consistent splits of 2:30, 2:32, 2:27, and 2:24. This one was all about consistency and staying strong in spite of the heat!

I had to give up my leisurely morning coffee on Wednesday to get my run done before the blast furnace turned on. I was on the trails by about 6:15 and already it was 80 degrees. My run felt hard but I was pleasantly surprised by how strong I felt. It was peaceful in the woods--the cicadas are starting to die off and the birds were pretty quiet too. I did see some deer running in the woods as well. I'm glad I got it done! 

On Thursday, I took a pass on the WOD, even though there was running in the MetCon. I didn't want to deal with the heat and wanted to continue to work on my posterior chain. I used the same hypertrophy workout from the past 2 weeks but made some modifications to mix it up. The first set had deadlifts alternating with sumo squats. I used my sketchy barbell with 65# for both movements and did sets of 10, 15, and 20 reps. The second set I did as written: hamstring curls on a ball, alternating with heals up goblet squats using a 25# kettlebell, sets of 10, 15, 20. The last set was lunges holding dumbbells (10# each hand) alternating with banded side steps 10, 15, 20m. Yes, my glutes --especially the left--were on fire. That was the goal!

On Friday, I did my best to get out the door as early as I could. I bravely ran in a running bra--this one has a lot of coverage-- because I couldn't bear the thought of a sweaty singlet. There were quite a few runners on the bike path with the same idea. The humidity started to take a toll on me and I stopped at the drinking fountain on the path for water both ways. I was spooked in the scary tunnel by a group of high school cross-country runners when they ran up behind me--they got a kick out of that! The run back was into a cool easterly breeze, courtesy of Lake Michigan 25 miles away. But it made all the difference!

We rode up to the lake on Saturday. It rained pretty much all day, so we went to Madison for lunch. No waterskiing --this summer isn't playing nicely for that! We had an exciting evening of weather--the trifecta--thunderstorms, tornadoes, and torrential rain. What a strange summer we're having!

How was your week? Are you running outside in the extreme heat? How are you staying cool? What are you doing to push yourself out of your comfort zone?

 I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown.