Heat Advisory! Week of 7-15 to 7-21

Mother of Mercy, it's hot out!  With temps all week projected to be between 90-100 degrees during the day, and dewpoints described as "oppressive," the heat index goes 100+, meaning any and all runs will have to be done early, late, or on the beach...no sense getting a heat stroke, right?

Monday, 7-15 - 2.5 Miles (Road) - Short out/back from the house.  At 7:30 I set out for a short run to the end of my street, and it was already 80 degrees.  Damn, those 4:45 dudes might be onto something...kept a steady pace though, and pushed it the last mile, scoring a 1/2 mile PR and a couple of other good numbers.  Short run but I got some good results!



Tuesday, 7-16 - 0 Miles - So I have what I'm quite sure is a corneal abrasion, as yet to be confirmed by my optometrist.  Left eye is very red, painful and light sensitive...to be confirmed Wednesday...missed the Bottone Mile, but there were some seriously impressive numbers posted, WOW, and in that heat...

Wednesday, 7-17 - 0 Miles - Suspicions confirmed, abrasion on the cornea.  Woke up to this:

Feelin' the burn...

Doc gave me a scrip for anti-inflammatory drops, said no contact lenses for at least a week, and recommended staying out of bright light as much as possible.  Apparently when the pupil makes its adjustment to compensate for lighting it's extremely painful, as I found out repeatedly while running errands in Westerly today...like an icepick to the brain.  So any running I do will have to be super early or super late...my in-laws are dropping off a pair of those awesome wrap around shades, so maybe I'll rock those for a few days :)

Thursday, 7-18 - 3.5 Miles (Beach) - Seaside to State Beach and back, Misquamicut.  What a difference a day makes, thanks to those eyedrops...woke up with very little discomfort, and almost no light sensitivity.  Had a chance to do a short beach run, with shades of course, so in spite of the heat and high tide, I was able to get 3.5 miles in, and made it to State Beach where I was turned back by the wall of people all trying to beat the heat in the same 1/4 mile of beach.  Seriously?  Walk a couple hundred yards down from State Beach and there's nobody...and everybody's smoking there, so I turned around and headed back.  Was going to make the Mike B. creeper run to my new Facebook buddy Taylor's place, but it was not to be.  Besides, probably not smart to go longer with a heat index of 100 degrees, even with the ocean right there to cool off...



...and guess what awesomeness arrived in the mail today???  New Balance MT1010v2 trail shoes, redesigned to fix the fatal flaw in version 1!  I'm so stoked...

Friday, 7-19 - 3.5 Miles (Beach) - Beach run #2, Misquamicut.  Day two with the heat index over 100 in my 'hood, but it was about 5 degrees cooler at the beach?  So round two of the short beach runs.  Hey, today I went at low tide, so there was more beach to work with, and firmer sand.  Still couldn't make the commitment to run to Ms. Swift's place, but I'm sure she'd hook me up with a bottle of water at the turn if I did, right?  Tons of people (again) at State Beach, and again I ran until I couldn't deal with the crowd anymore...looking forward to slightly cooler temps in the coming days, some swimming, bike Saturday(?) and a long run on Sunday...no races this week, though, more family time at the beach :)

Saturday, 7-20 - 15 Miles (Bike) - 3.5 Miles (Beach run) - 15 Miles (Bike) - Home to Ocean bike ride, beach run to State Beach and back, Ocean back to North Stonington bike ride.  Whew!  Who's a dumbass who doesn't take his own advice, written at the top of this post?  This guy, that's who!  I'd brilliantly decided to do something I've wanted to do but never done, which was ride my bike to the beach, run a 5K, and ride home.  But why not up the ante and do it in 90+ degree weather?  Idiot?

My master plan had a bailout option, which was Lori and Soph driving down...that way I could wuss out and throw the bike in the car and ride back...but what?  You're not going to the beach?  Oh...

So I went anyway.  And it was hot! I'd also thrown about 50 things I thought I'd need into a backpack (bike lock, change of clothes, towel, etc.), and it turned out to be an extra 10 pounds of crap I didn't need, none of it.  Lesson learned, yo...

     Part #1:  The ride.  I did some maintenance on the bike before I left, fixed the front brake and aired the tires, and the ride down was not too bad!  Steady and I felt really good.  Getting into Misquamicut and feeling a dip in the temperature was a godsend...got to Seaside and put the bike away, and got to the run...


     Part #2:  The run.  5K+ barefoot beach run to State Beach and back.  Negative-split the whole run, which I was quite pleased with, and kept it steady and relaxed.  Ran into Mrs. B., who graciously gave me a bottle of water (do I look that bad? I still have to ride home!).  Mike B. was couching today, so I missed chatting with him about my impending doom next weekend.

     Part #3:  The ride home.  More like, slow slog on a gradual ascent, all the while counting down the miles, and straight to my sister-in-law's pool for a cool-off and a beer.  Beer never tasted so good...so glad we're getting slightly cooler weather this week...maybe I'll come to my senses and do smarter things?  Yeah, probably not...