Tag Archive: sweat

Running log: 2009/09/06

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Sun. September 6, 2009

We’re now at the point in this session’s training where we’re doing about 18 kilometres of running on our long slow distance runs. That’s pretty close to the 21.1K needed to cover a half-marathon, so really, we’re just about there. Overall, I think I must be doing something right because this 18K run as well as last week’s were really quite good. I’ve been expecting to feel worn out, or like my body has been pummelled, but in all honesty both times I’ve finished smiling–fatigued, but smiling. Sure, I can attribute these strong finishes to the fact that I ate some complex carb cereals before these runs, but I’m sure the fact that I’ve improved also plays into it. Heck, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t give myself some credit on this one. I’ve well and truly been training year round so of course I’m going to come out my runs in better condition than I did perhaps a year ago.

Today I ran with two people, one of whom is going through the half training for the first time. Due to an injury last week, this was her first week conquering 18K. Ooh, the look on her face at the end was definitely one of accomplishment. I mean, it’s not close to a full-marathon distance, or any of the ultra races, but wow, eighteen kilometres is a freaking long way to go, you know? Why the heck do we put ourselves through any of this? It’s veritably insane. At the same time, each and every runner understands.

Never mind the fact that I’m out there for longer than 2 hours.
Never mind the fact that I end up sweating like a pig and dripping with snot.
Never mind the fact that I’m putting your body under a huge amount of stress.

In the end, it’s all OK because I end up doing something that was probably unimaginable before. I thank God for the fact that I can run; I really never thought it possible with my flat feet and all. No limitations!

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Running log: 2009/08/16

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Mon. August 17, 2009

I want to take some time tonight to write about yesterday’s run. I usually try to prep myself the night before my long runs just to make things go smoother. Usually the main component of this preparation is just a good amount of hydration. Since I’ve started loading up on water the night before I’ve stopped getting those nasty post-run headaches that I’ve written about so many times. Go figure, right? Well, this past Saturday I did the same thing. I drank a couple of glasses of water before sleeping. That all would have been good, right? Thing is, I also did something that I should have known not to do. See, as you know on Saturday I had friends over to help with appliances. Afterwards, we all went out to Kelsey’s to share some appetizers. And…perhaps you can see where this is going. First of all, I ended up eating a little bit too much. Before a long run it’s not a good idea to go out with a full stomach. Secondly, I partook of some “loaded nachos.’ Oh, they were good, no doubt. The nachos had a lot of cheese, ground beef, sweet red peppers and jalapeños. And therein lies the problem. No, the night before a long run it’s a horribly bad idea to eat anything really spicy. So all of that sets the scene that played out on Sunday morning.

Now, even though I had the washing machine now working, I didn’t have any washing detergent. As such, I was unable to wash my running tank prior to the run. That was unfortunate because I knew that the run would be really hot. According to the weather reports the temperature would be about 30°C, and that was without humidity factored in. I ended up having to go out in a full tee. I wasn’t happy about it.

I ran with the usual group that morning. Usually there are three of us that keep together, but we were missing one probably due to the heat (how smart of her, really). So, the two of us just decided to take it easy. About 20 minutes into the run I started feeling a little bit uneasy. The uneasiness started giving way to gastrointestinal distress. I thought that it might just be gas, but then I realized my stupidity from the night before, so I thought that I might have to make a pit stop somewhere. I was considering a nearby Tim Hortons, but my running buddy suggested that I wait for the Anglican church about 10 minutes away. Fine. I was kind of conscious about the fact that I’d be making a stop at a church though. She ensured me that it was quite all right. I suppose it would be. Would a church turn away someone in distress? I don’t know.

So, when we got there I was feeling a bit tentative. As I stepped in, there were a bunch of proper looking old ladies. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I smiled at them and signed myself as I went upstairs. I found the stall which really reminded me of something from an elementary school. At that point though, I was in no mood to be picky. You know, the interesting thing for me about that whole situation was the strange juxtaposition of what I was doing and where I was. In the distance I could hear hymns being played on a pipe organ. Oh, Lord! What a contrast. There I am having a nice sit-down moment while listening to organ music playing the background. Actually, it wasn’t so nice because the jalapeños made it an unpleasant experience.

Well, I washed my hands and attempted to get out of there without making a scene. Right down the stairs there were the church ladies again. Once again, I was at a loss for what to say, so I just told smiled and said “have a blessed day!” And then I was out of there. You know, I suppose I really could have just said nothing and left. For my part, I just wanted to make sure that their experiences with runners are good ones just so that they will not do something like shut off the washroom to the public.

Well, the run went on, and soon the heat and humidity just mounted. It was hideous out there. Really, it reminded me of that extremely hot and humid 21K run I had last September. I was sweating profusely; my shirt was soaked. My running friend and I had to slow down and take more frequent walking breaks. I mean, we weren’t in a race. The key idea was that it was a “training run” so we knew there was no point in killing ourselves. At the eleventh kilometre, the heat was really taking its toll on me. I had to actually walk for a long period due to a feeling of light-headedness. I knew that if I tried to push myself at that point I might just keel over. That’s how hot it was. My running friend also had to take a lot of washroom breaks along the way. We were considering cutting the route off and heading back early, but we decided to complete the distance. It didn’t matter that we walked a good chunk of the distance. The important thing was getting the time on our feet.

We did make it back after a good while. Being in the air-conditioned store was a great feeling, for sure. Similar to the brutal run from last September, I knew that some people cut off early while others felt really sick and had a hard time. Weather is one of those things in running that you can’t blame yourself for. If you’re having a hard time, guaranteed most others will be feeling the same way. This run did a lot to remind me of that.

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Running log: 2009/06/14

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Sun. June 14, 2009

Well, it’s early in the evening. Maybe I can still get around to doing a load of laundry or two.

Earlier today, after my run I was kind of dictating to myself that for once I would stay awake on a Sunday afternoon just so I could be a little bit useful. Eh, well after church and lunch I just ended up deciding to take a short “nap” that lengthened out to 4 hours. Oops.

It’s kind of a habit of mine. Whenever I go out for my Sunday long runs, inevitably the afternoon after is kind of a bust. I’ll end up sleeping away useful daylight hours. I’m sure my body uses that sleep as a really big recovery period, but I still feel like I should be doing something better, know what I mean?

So, the obvious suggestion would be: don’t take naps in the afternoon! Duh. The thing is, I’m usually in a state where napping is probably the best thing for me. How is that true? Well, I find that about an hour or two after my run I develop a throbbing headache. It’s the kind where my head feels like it’s in a clamp that’s being tightened. No, it doesn’t sound pleasant at all, does it? I wonder what that’s about. If I look back, it really looks like it happens much more frequently in the summer months. Looking back on this post in February seems to back that observation.

(Heh, also in that post, it looks like I took that long nap anyway.)

So, given all of that evidence I wonder if I’m running out of…something. I feel fine directly after my runs, but the act of not running doesn’t mean that my body completely just stops processing things in “run mode” and goes into a normal state. No, the effects tend to linger long after. Today, when I got home I took a shower. When I got out and got dressed I found that I was still sweating. Given that, I might be running out of carb stores, or water, or even salts. I sweat a lot, and that reduces the level of salts in my body. I wonder if the headache is due to me bottoming out somehow. Gosh, after two years of running you’d think I’d have a better handle on this. Apparently not.

The store has some salt/electrolyte tablets. I think I want to purchase a tube and see if it helps to chew on some during my run. I can add sports drink powder to my water as well, but I find that doing so in summer is kind of gross. In the heat, the drink just gets warm and has a thicker sugary mouth-feel. Toward the end of the run I feel like I’d much rather have clean, although warm, water.

I have a side story re: water and the water bottle. I noticed today that the water I put in my bottle was tasting a little off. I just couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong. However, I really didn’t have any choice, I just had to keep drinking it. Toward the end of the run I started noticing that my translucent plastic bottle was kind of dirty. I figured that it somehow got dirty from something. I didn’t have time though to stop and examine. When I got back to the store I wiped the bottom of the bottle to get the dirt off, except that it wasn’t coming off. I opened the top and looked in. That’s when I realized that the black was actually a little bit of water mould at the bottom of the bottle. Lesson learned: wash your bottles well! UGH.

Anyway, I’ll have to spend some time figuring out what the best approach is. Hot weather running is a different beast than cold weather running. Each has different things to worry about. There are these sweet spot windows of fantastic running weather during spring and autumn. Unfortunately, I think the spring window is now over.

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Fan blasting

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Tue. May 12, 2009

I know it’s early on in the year. Heck, we’re not even into summer yet; however, I’m actually feeling quite happy about the heat so far. I mean, usually by this time of year I’m already cursing the heat and sweating profusely like dry skin was going out of style. So what’s different? Well I still sweat a great deal. I don’t think that’s going to change unless I decide to take medication. Actually, my dermatologist recommended something a while back. I’ve just never gotten around to buying the meds and testing to see if I’ll really remain bone dry. Frankly, given that I’m going to be running in high heat during the summer, I don’t really want to hijack my natural cooling system, right?

Anyway, all that aside, the big reason that I’ve been relatively cool is the fact that I’ve been running a really strong fan under my desk at work. My colleague has this desk fan that’s bit sitting around for years but has gotten no use at all. During one of my evening shifts I decided to borrow it and put it under my desk blasting at my legs. Holy crap, it’s great! It’d be completely distracting if it was blowing at my face or even my upper body, but down low it’s pleasant.

It makes me think of kangaroos. They manage to stay relatively cool by licking their forearms. The blood that pumps through the arms is cooled as the saliva evaporates and as that circulates the kangaroo is cooled. In my case, cooler legs means a cooler body temperature overall, and that means a happier Jason. Yes, indeed. I’ve talked it over with my colleague and he told me I can continue to borrow the fan since he’s not using it. Score! The whir of the fan has just become white noise–it’s just there but really amounts to nothing. It’s not distracting. Even if it was, I’d put up with it in exchange for comfort.

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The great downtown chase

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Sat. September 13, 2008

Last night I hung out with Hui downtown. After eating we went to the theatre to catch Tropic Thunder. Heh, that was a fun movie. It’s easy to see how the movie can be offensive to a lot of people, but the satire all makes sense in the context of the movie. Robert Downey Jr. was the standout for me. Tom Cruise also surprised me. Overall, I enjoyed it.

It was late when the movie ended. As we were exiting the Scotiabank Theatre I asked Hui what time his train was leaving. He checked his watch and said 11:42. I checked my watch and thought, “oh shit.” We had about 13 minutes to cover a 20 minute leisurely walking distance. If he missed the train, he’d be stuck there for an hour for the next one to come. I told him “all right, we’ll get you there” and started walking fast. About 5 minutes in I decided that it was unlikely that we’d make it and suggested that we do a light jog. He agreed so we started picking up the pace. I still had my work bag with me and that was shaking all over the place, so I grabbed it and tucked it under my arm. My shoes weren’t meant for running, but I felt like I was going at a good pace. As we ran we had to weave in and out of crowds of clubbers. Every time we hit a stop light we changed direction; as long as we were moving, we were making progress.

When we got close to Union Station, he suggested that we were close enough so we slowed to a normal walk. I checked my watch again and said that we had to keep going. We were almost at the station, but I figured that 2 to 3 minutes wouldn’t be enough for him to make it to the platform. When we got inside, I slowed down and just told him to run for it. I mean, I wasn’t under the gun–so I didn’t want to stress out too much about making it. So, he went off. I checked my watch and it was the scheduled departure time for his train. I figured he had a 50/50 shot of getting on, but even at those odds I couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty for leaving him.

As I headed into the subway area, I started sweating profusely. I hadn’t allowed myself sufficient time to cool down from the downtown chase so as soon as I stopped that’s when it all caught up to me. My face was absolutely drenched. I took a few papers from outside my bag and started fanning myself. A few people around me moved away. I kind of laughed at it–I don’t blame them at all. I mean, here’s this guy that’s sweating profusely–maybe he’s got some sort of weird contagious virus? When I got on the train, the subway car was heavily air conditioned so I just sat there letting my temperature head back down to normal levels.

About an hour ago I called Hui and found out that he missed his train. You mean to say that I could have prevented sweating like a hooker in church? Chee.

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Running log: 2008/08/24

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Sun. August 24, 2008

I should have known that yesterday’s bout with pizza, wings, fries, a deep fried chocolate bar, Swiss Chalet and beer would cost me today. For the second week in a row my Sunday run was far below my expectations.

I woke up late and crammed down a peanut butter flavoured Clif bar. Holy shit, that didn’t feel good at all. The weather was a whole lot more hot and humid than I was anticipating. I mean, I checked the weather report in the morning and thought: “Hmm, 21 degrees. Nice!” I wore a t-shirt instead of a tank, and really that hit me hard. The weather was downright nasty. Very quickly, I got to a point where I was just dripping. I already sweat a lot, but that was a bit much–even for me. I had to slow down significantly because the heat was causing me to breathe hard and my heart rate was higher than where I wanted it.

As I ran, I could feel the energy bar sitting around not heading down. Very frequently, I was belching up peanut butter, and that was horribly horribly disgusting. I tried to wash it down with liquid, but I was having trouble. See, my water bottle had a mix of water and orange flavoured carb powder. The drink was never an issue before, but today I was suddenly very sick of the mix. Gross.

All of these factors combined together to make a ridiculously tough run. I had to take some long walk breaks just to be able to make it through the distance. It wasn’t that long of a run–13K. So, now I’m worried about whether I’m going to be able to manage next week’s run which will likely be around 19K. During today’s ordeal, I was fortunate enough to have one of the run leaders accompany me. All along the way she was giving me encouragement and suggested a lot of things to try for next week. I’m really going to concentrate and focus on making next Sunday a good one, because so many bad runs in a row are bad for the ego, know what I mean?

This all brought something to my attention though: just how serious am I about this whole training business? Right now, my attitude is just that this is a purely recreational thing. I’m not watching my food intake far too closely. I’m not terribly focused on being the best or speediest out there. Just maybe though, I have to actually shift my focus. It would have been fine to leave things as is at the lower levels, but at the half-marathon level? I think I need to “respect” the distance. Does that make sense? That’s not to say I’m not working hard now. I just need to think about the process more and not do too much that will sabotage my efforts.

Craaaaazy.

One more month.

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Various running pains

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Mon. July 28, 2008

Everywhere I walked today I was kind of ambling around in a bit of pain. The soles of my feet felt like they were completely pummelled. As of late my feet have been extraordinarily comfortable, so the onslaught of compounded discomfort during the run was kind of a shock for me. It’s only when pain like this attacks quite suddenly that I suspect the my shoes are starting to give me some issues.

My shoes are about 3.5 months old, so I’m not ready to declare them kaput just yet. Though I have to consider that with my current track record with footwear they do seem to be nearing the end of their lifespan. So many people quote different things in terms of the life span of a good running shoe. I’ve heard people give ratings of 500K on some shoes. That’s all well and good for some people but I’m just not the average runner. I land really heavy on my feet so my shoes certainly take a beating. My first pair of shoes lasted about 4 months before collapsing on me. Back then, my weekly mileage was lower and I was heavier. Now, I’m lighter but my mileage has gone up. I dunno, man. I have a short run tomorrow, and if I’m still uncomfortable I’ll know that the shoes are to blame.

Ooh, yesterday I also tried out a new sleeveless top that I picked up from SportChek. Yeah, I finally got off my ass and found a few that worked. I wore a black Nike one with white lines/panels on Sunday. I was surprised–I have to say I didn’t look bad at all in it. Sleeveless really does make a difference–no kidding. I didn’t really pay attention to any strong breezes in the past, but yesterday I took notice. Not everything about the shirt was great though. It was my first time out with it on, and really I should have tried it first with a shorter run. At about the 8K mark I started noticing that my nipples were getting sore. At the end of 13K they were just raw. I had to pull my shirt out in front of me every now and then just for some relief. I wouldn’t blame the shirt itself entirely. It’s just that the heat was causing me to sweat a lot and the salt was just making the shirt mildly abrasive. It’s not all that noticeable but over time it just compounds. Luckily I didn’t reach the point where I was actually bleeding, but it was still unpleasant. So yeah, once again I need to remember to get some Body Glide. Raw nipples makes for an unhappy experience.

So yeah, my feet are bruised and my nipples are sore. You know what, though? I’m still enjoying this whole running thing. I will keep going, and I will meet my goal.

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Camel attitude

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Wed. July 9, 2008

A while back I said that I need to do better when it comes to managing the heat on my runs. About 1.5 weeks after now, I’m finding that although I’m staying cooler, I need to put more effort to bring the unease lower.

The headband really works wonders because it does such a good job of holding onto the moisture. There have been times that I’ve been entirely shocked at having a relatively dry shirt after a run. Now, compared to before when sweat often soaked my shirt down to my navel: this is downright miraculous. When it comes to having a sweaty shirt though I find that it’s all not so bad to deal with. You’d think that it’d be uncomfortable, but it’s not so bad because my running shirts are all technical so they have good moisture wicking properties. I’m not saying I’m prepared to go out and party in my running gear right after, but rather I don’t feel totally grossed out wearing a moist shirt.

This Saturday I’m going to make the commitment to buying a sleeveless shirt for my longer runs. I’m hoping that I can find one that won’t make me so damn self-conscious to the point where I can’t focus on what I’m doing. I almost feel like I should do some lifting on my off days just because I’d be showing off my arms. Feh. When the hell did I become that vain?

In terms of staying hydrated, I keep forgetting to bring my water bottle on the weekdays. In order to do so, I have to plan ahead such that I put it in the car before I go to work. It doesn’t take much effort to do so, but even so it’s like I’m not making a high enough priority. I find that I’m still of the “I’m a camel!” mindset, you know? Yes, yes, yes, I’m good at holding onto water. Staying hydrated though requires that I actually drink enough water during the day. Otherwise? My retaining powers are then pretty pointless. During my run today I was feeling alright for the first bit, but with the sun bearing down on me I suddenly started feeling dry mouth. By 4-5K I was really regretting not having water. My mouth was beyond having the pasties at that point: I was just plain dry. I knew that I only had a little while to go so I just sucked it up and kept going. In the end though I cracked and got water off another runner. Whoo, the difference was like night and day. After taking a swig or two I immediately felt better, like I could finally focus on my form. Based on the fact that I was feeling a bit rotten on this run from being dehydrated, I can only imagine that the feeling would be amplified so many times over once the runs become lengthier.

Water is important! Screw the camel attitude! Drink!

I’m still learning, but certainly things are falling into place!

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