Hot, sticky, kind of tired -- but good!

I ran another timed mile on the road today, and my time was exactly the same as it was last week. I had prefaced the mile with a warm up and then an easy mile on the treadmill in 8:51. I was tired when I started, but on the road I concentrated on using gravity on the downhills and maintaining speed on the flats and uphill. And when I reached the mile mark, it was 7:43. I couldn't believe it was exactly the same as last week. I was very tired though, and had a little trouble catching my breath, which I assume was because of the humid weather. I took it easy on the jog back, which was 10:03.

I am really happy to see that I didn't regress too much due to the warmer weather, because I was sure I would. The last two Tuesdays it was unseasonably chilly out, and I can't expect my times to be the same in warmer conditions. In fact, I've been afraid that the goal pace I've set based on the timed miles will be beyond my reach once it gets hotter. Today's run makes me feel better about that. It will still be tough keeping a fast pace for longer than 1 mile though. The fact that I couldn't catch my breath before jogging home reminds me that I'm really not conditioned yet. I looked up some exercises for increasing lung capacity, and I'll begin practicing them. Hopefully that will be a good addition to my training.

On a different note, I used Dr. Scholl's Moleskin padding on my blisters today, and it worked well to reduce the friction. I wish that I had used it on Sunday before I got the blisters! I also think that it would feel really nice on the balls of my feet, which feel like they catch on fire after running downhill (probably because I'm a fore-foot striker). The problem with the moleskin is that it doesn't go very far. One package has three sheets in it, and I used half a sheet today just to wrap both of my little toes. If I did use it for the balls of my feet, I'd go through two or three packages a week.

This reminds me that I need to do two really important things: 1. Go to a running specialty store to have help fitting myself for sneakers, which I'm 90% sure are the culprits in this whole blister business. I've found one about 35-40 minutes away, so I'll have to take a drive over there one of these days to see what they have. 2. Get my orthodics refurbished or get a new pair. I looked at the date on them, and they're 7 years old. 7 years! Yeah, I'll be calling the podiatrist soon...