Friday, September 8, 2017

Running In Bad Air and A Lazyish Morning

Happy Friday guys! I feel like this has been a crazy week for us after Labor Day and getting M in school. I think yesterday was the first day all week that I felt like we had a nice easy morning once we got J off to school.  M slept in and despite V's efforts at trying to wake her up, she was really tired and it put us behind schedule. Poor J had to run to catch the bus and I didn't even get to kiss her goodbye. I'm trying to soak that in as long as possible because I know that one day she won't let me do that anymore.

But then the rest of the morning was about laundry, and relaxing and reading books.  I made this huge batch of granola too. I have been liking just making the granola plain and then adding other things (chocolate chips, craisins, fruit etc) to it later. 

M was trying to entertain V while I was changing his diaper. It seems like I can't ever get this kid to hold still anymore. I told Trevon the other day that you would think my arm muscles would be giant with all the wrestling I have to do just to get him dressed, but they aren't. When we got him all changed M took this cute picture of him with my phone. She also took several "Abstract" pictures of things around his room. Also, oddly, V really likes his fingernails getting clipped. He calms down and holds still for me every time I start clipping his nails. I'm sure, though, that now that I have said that, he will no longer like to get his nails clipped and he will fight me the entire time. It just seems like that kind of thing happens all the time. 


I had a big struggle getting up this morning to run. All the kids woke up several times last night (this seems to happen every once in a while, and no one sleeps well) but that wasn't the only thing. We have had really terrible air the last few days due to several fires on our side of the country (including 2 of our own) that have just made our air really dirty.  I wasn't looking forward to a run on the treadmill. It's kind of a stupid thing to get frustrated about since it's not something I can control. I just keep getting this feeling that the warm days are numbered and these dang fires are ruining the kids outside time and my running time. 

Living in Utah we deal with bad air a lot. The reason is that we are surrounded by beautiful mountains and the pollution (especially in the winter) gets trapped down inside and it makes the air bad to breathe. One more reason I don't care for winter all that much. In the summer time, this usually only happens when there are lots of fires, like now, and it doesn't last as long as in the winter because it's warmer and the air can escape easier. Anyway, when the air is that bad out, it's not smart to spend a lot of time outside breathing that bad air. Especially for people with respiratory issues like asthma and little kids or elderly.  

So, as a runner, it's not the greatest idea to go outside in that smokey air, but for a runner with asthma that's even worse. That leaves a few options: Treadmill, Non-running at home workout, or sleep.  I talked myself into the treadmill. With my race coming up in a couple of weeks and having missed a lot of workouts last week, I didn't want to miss more.  I decided to do a short tempo run today instead of my long run (that will hopefully come tomorrow if the air is better).  I did a half mile warm up, 3x1K's at race pace and then walked a little for a cool down. Total of 3.2 miles. But it was a much harder workout than I had anticipated. (could have something to do with the lack of sleep though too). 

If bad air is something that you deal with here are a few tips about running when the pollution is high. You can read the full article HERE.

Is there a lot of smog where you live?

Do you like your fingernails long or short?

If you're a granola person, what is your favorite add-in?

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