Torture Report: Back to Nature, July is for Resting

(L) The last week I have gone back to nature and rather than lamenting the fact that I wasn’t running some set distance…I just enjoyed where I was. I have walked around Nashville, Boulder and Colorado Springs.

Flagstaff Summit Amphitheater, Boulder, CO

Now, while I am not setting any running records I am having a great time. Don’t ask me how my training is going for the Slacker Half-marathon, which is in about 10 days! It’s not going to be pretty, but I am still going to do it. I clearly have some warped sense of what is manageable when I think I can just go run 13.1 miles with not much more that 4 miles under my belt. I really could use some of G’s training mojo, which has long since been thrown out the window.

For now though I am basking in the two days without rain and appreciating the great outdoors.

Go G and Swaggy J. Run Far and Run Free!

(G): It’s been a pretty serious race schedule for me so far this year. And by serious, I just mean that I have participated in a fair number of races by my standards and I have done quite a lot of training. Last year, after the Outrun 24 featuring the 50-mile delight, I took a break and didn’t have another race until August. This year we kept charging forward with a race last weekend and another one on Saturday. That’s soon to be 5 races and usually the number I do all year.

Phew! I am jazzed about the Vegan Power 50K in Massachusetts this week but, frankly, I am equally jazzed to dial it back a bit. I have been going full throttle since January and it’s time to hit the brakes for a few weeks. As a rule, I never run a race in July cause it’s just too darn hot and humid.

When it comes to the last week, hot and humid sums it up nicely. It’s been 90 or near 90 every day and the humidity, dew point and all those things that make life sticky, soupy and, otherwise gross, were up.

It was so bad that one day I ran in the basement on the treadmill and the air was so full of water that I was dripping wet once I got done. And this weekend was equally sweat-tastic outside.

But I got some good training in, which is always hard for me coming off a race. I prefer to take a week off and take it easy but with another one so close on its heels … ain’t nobody got time for that!

I was able to keep the focus, stay on track with my fitness challenge, and even threw in some planking time with Swaggy J. It feels a bit pathetic to be doing 30 second and 1-minute planks next to my husband who’s doing 3 minutes at a time. What a show off.

So here’s to a fun time on Saturday and resting hard in July.

Sunshine & Sarcasm,

Lowi & G

The Torture Report began in January 2014 as a weekly update of our journey to completing a 50-mile race. Since then it’s continued on to become a chronicle of how we try mightily to find fitness, health and sometimes the finish line. We aren’t always successful but we keep showing up and telling you all about it on Tuesdays.

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