Friday, October 24, 2008

Ants-in-my-pants

I’ve got ants in my pants!

Of course, I’m not actually wearing pants, I'm wearing my running shorts.

I am doing intervals. On a cold autumn night. Perfect!

The air is crisp, the night belongs to me, I have energy in the legs and nothing but time.

It’s run hard for 30 sec and easy for 2 min. Nice, perfect interval run.

The first 30 is on the downhill. I’ve got nothing but energy in the legs. I go hard! It’s the first one, right?

It just might be the last one too!

WAY TOO HARD!

My legs are turning over so fast, they are just a blur. There is no way my lungs can even think about keeping up. I am so anaerobic that I’m turning blue.

The first 20 seconds flew by. The last 10 seconds are an eternity.

Finally the interval is up and it’s all I can do not to collapse. Two minutes cannot last long enough. I keep hoping that my heart will calm down or my breath will realize that I’m at the bottom of the hill and not at the top where I left it.

“Hello! Down here!”

About the time my breathing is returning, the ants find me.

I have itches all over. My lower back. My forearms. My scalp.

And then it’s gone. Sweet relief. No itch. Anywhere.

The next 30 I take it easier. Much easier. Like the kind of pace that I can actually hold. As in hold in my dinner.

No problem. Good fun.

Next up: Two minute easy.

But the ants are back. I swear I am itchy everywhere. It’s feels like an allergic reaction.

Maybe I’m allergic to exercise! PERFECT! If I can get a medical note then I am exempt from workout! Couch potato here I come!

Sadly, it doesn’t last. The itch goes.

It’s just me and the cool night.

It’s just me and the cool night.

Cool night. So cool its stealing my heat. I’m getting the pre-sweat itches. Over and over again.

If only I can just work up a true sweat then these itches will be gone. But it’s no go. 30 seconds hard doesn’t even out two minutes of easy.

This is formula is working perfect for my run but its doing a number on my skin.

Finally, the interval is over and it’s on to a tempo run.

I’ve never been so happy to run so hard.

Sweet sweat! Sweet relief.

3 comments:

The Stretch Doc said...

I like it.. now you know how I feel all the time with my speed, HA.. ya right.

Keep it up!!!

rockon`

ShirleyPerly said...

Hmm, I never heard of pre-sweat itches. Perhaps with the humidity where I usually am the sweat just pours. But nice work on the intervals and glad to hear you get some cooler air for a change!

Unknown said...

I've had itches that come and go during a run, but usually in just a small, isolated spot. It sounds like it didn't slow your workout, though. Great job.