1: My new job: I am on call and most of my shifts are 11 hours and some are 13 if you include drive time. If I am out running along the river and get a call, I only have two hours to drive home, shower, change, prep for the job, make arrangements with our dog sitter, and then get my butt over across the river and into the big city. Traffic alone sometimes takes an hour and fifteen minutes to get there. So - I don't run any where but around my home or the hotel now. I try and stay close. Also, days I can run are MUCH fewer. Maybe one or two days a weeks. I worked FIVE 11 hour days last week, had a day off that I used for cleaning, laundry, shopping with plans to run the next day (after all - it was a scheduled day off) but instead, I got called in to work AGAIN.
2: The time of day I can run and the weather: I am pretty much limited now to mid-day runs when I can run. August mid-day in the PNW is warm and unbelievably muggy. Today, I felt like I was drowning and my heart rate monitor showed I was definitely over exerting in a cardiovascular sense. I had to stop SIX times!!! That is unheard of for me. Depressing.
3: Weight gain/loss of fitness: I am still within 5 pounds of when I got hired by the railroad, BUT I have lost a lot of muscle and cardio fitness. Pants are tighter and runs are much harder. It is a cycle that feeds into itself.
HOPE!
I heard that in October I will have LOTS of time to run as being on call will have far less calls coming my way once all the crews are done with summer vacations and the weather is crappy enough no one lays off just to go have fun. So - it will be colder, wetter and darker....but I will be able to run again....if they are correct. Time will tell. I heard August would be better but it is proving worse.
RUN TODAY: 4.25 miles with a ton of hills. Pace? Snails were beating me.
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