5 miles & Hot Yoga

I knew I would be running in the rain today, but I didn't know I'd encounter a serious pacific squall 2 miles into my run. I've never run in that kind of bad weather before. Ever. When I began, the sky was mostly cloudy, with slight sun beating through. E looked west and told me I would definitely be running in the rain as we watched a huge grey cloud out over the ocean move inward. Unconcerned, I shed my jacket, clipped on my shuffle, and set out. And like I said, about 1.5 miles into it the rain started. Not too heavy, so I kept going. Rain increased, as did the wind. Something in me said I should probably turn around, even though the Garmin said only 2.2 miles. As I turned, everything changed. I had run the first part of the run with a tail wind, and now I was facing a serious headwind. Rain was driving into my face and the wind made it very difficult to breathe. I had to place a hand over my mouth while I ran so I could actually get a breath! I was soaked within 90 seconds, and was quickly freezing. My hands lost feeling and the rain just kept coming down. For a few moments, I was actually scared. I decided to keep going, and ended up back at the parking lot bathed in clear skies and sunshine, so I did another mile before packing up.

I downloaded some trance/rave-like music from Audio Fuel. It's a company that makes workout music (specifcally running, I think) that sets your pace using beats per minute. Each song is set to help you increase you pace during the run and then maintain a constant pace while you put serious mileage. There's some coaching thrown in, and they even make music for tempo runs, long runs, short runs. You name it. Kind of cool.

Hot Yoga may have been overdoing it, but I felt like getting some more sweat on, and just generally stretching out. I now have some minor pain in my right hamstring that I'm conscious of resting over the next few days.