Typically in the summer, I like to try to get to bed by 10:00pm and get up between 5:00am and 5:30am. Up until this week, though, I’ve been in a rut where I’ve been staying up until 11 or so, and not getting moving until close to 6:30. My morning routine (breakfast, coffee, pool chores, etc) usually takes me around an hour, and as a result, on mornings that I run, I haven’t been getting out of the house until close to 8:00. By then, the sun is usually out, and the summer heat is on the rise. Things have gone better so far this week, though. I’m getting tired of roasting in the sun during my runs, and with an expected high of 98° today, I was highly motivated to get out early for my run. I got moving around 5:15, and managed to hit the pavement at 6:45, which is the earliest I’ve run all summer. What a difference an hour and 15 minutes makes — in spite of the omnipresent humidity, the temperature was a reasonable 74°F, and it was much shadier and less oppressive due to the lower sun angle. I ran my usual 7 mile fall-winter-spring weekday morning route, and it actually was almost sort of pleasant. Now that I’ve experienced it, maybe I can continue to motivate myself to run early for the rest of the summer.

I am still dealing with stiffness issues with my right calf. Last week, I bought myself a percussion massage gun. It seems to work nicely, but initially, I overdid things, and aggravated the calf even more. It seemed to respond well to the heating pad, so I’ve been using that a bit lately, typically right before bed. I’ve also taken to wearing compression socks for a few hours after running, and I still use the foam roller prior to running. I suspect that the massage gun may fit in best as a post-run recovery aid, so I will see how things go. I’m also hoping that it will help with the occasional hip flexor/piriformis issues that I get on the left side.