Bouncy, Bouncy

This morning I tried a couple new techniques in my training.

1. I set two alarms, one at 4 AM and one at 5 AM. When the alarm went off at 4 I took my thyroid pill and then went back to sleep until 5:00. Well, that was the theory. Once I woke up, I just tossed and turned; I kept peeking at the clock only to discover that 6 more minutes had gone by. 7 minutes. 3 minutes. And so on, for an hour. But the idea was to try and get my pill out of the way early enough so I could eat a little something before going out for the run. I don’t know that I necessarily need to eat before a 30 minute run, but I also want to figure out how to fuel myself before my training requires longer and longer runs. I don’t know that this practice did anything other than make me a little more tired, but I figure it is worth another attempt.

2. I wore my hydration belt out today. I can do a 30 minute run without needing water, but I’m desperate for water when I get home and my Team In Training coach sent out the message that said we should all have a hydration system of some sort before our group run on Saturday. So I put the belt on, only to have it bounce and bounce and bounce the whole time. I couldn’t keep my arms swinging in a natural rhythm because I had to hold onto the belt with one arm the whole time. I had this same problem at the recent Race for the Cure I ran. I can cinch the belt in tight enough around my waist (by pulling it as tight as it will go), but it loosens as I move. I think I’ll go to the craft store to buy some velcro and try forcing a way to make it to stay tight. If that doesn’t work, I’m on the market for a new way to hydrate myself while running.

On a positive note, I did get 4 miles in this morning without any dog attacks. I’m feel re-charged and a lot less jittery. However, I do plan on scoping out a few other routes to hopefully avoid the evil dog street. It’s not worth the mental stress of going down that road again.