HEAT WAVE

Well there was no question about shorts or pants today. Since I waited until the evening to run, the temps had a chance to heat up – and they made it all the way to 67 degrees. Remember, I’m in Minnesota, so that’s pretty hot. After 15 minutes of running I ran by my car and dropped off my baseball hat because it was “too hot.” After that I joined my team for long hilly run. Usually they run between 45-60 minutes on Tuesday night. Today they went 75. By adding my 15 minute warm-up beforehand, I had my 12 miles. I actually felt really good and did push the pace like my coach suggested.

The run consisted of a lot of hills and stairs. There’s a long hill in St. Paul that leads to a great running store (Runners Edge) on Grand Avenue. I’ve always driven that hill and thought, “this would be a great hill to run.” Well, I got that chance tonight and I was right. While it “sucked” it was “great” at the same time. If that makes any sense? I’d take that hill – or any hill, for that matter – over the stairs my coach has us doing. Stairs are just brutal!

Since the triathletes were only going to spin for 15 minutes after the run, I decided to join them. After that we did some abdominal exercises for about 10 minutes. I’ve never been a big ab guy, but I’m trying to change that. All I hear now is “core this” and “core that” so I thought I’d better give it a shot and see if it helps. Awhile ago I was on the treadmill and saw an infomercial for www.coresecrets.com. Since the first DVD, ball and pump were only 10 bucks (well, more like $17 with shipping and handling), I bought them. The only thing is that it’s a membership deal where they keep sending you DVDs every other month. Not a big deal until I got my second DVD and it was 40 bucks (again, more like $47 with shipping and handling). That seems steep for a 25 minute workout video and some flashcards. I plan on sending that back and canceling my subscription. I have enough different exercises; I just have to stay motivated.