Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Humidity and Tempo Runs Do Not Mix

Busy day today, so my only window to really run was probably at the worst part of the day. The cross country team had nice cloud cover, some light rain and cooler temps earlier in the morning. By the time they were done and I began my own workout at around 10am, the sun was breaking out of the clouds, the temps were warming up and it was a full-on sauna.

Ran a couple of miles to warm up and then I let the hammer fall over a very hilly route. I had originally wanted to get in at least seven miles on hills at tempo pace, but given the heat and humidity I was content to just do five. It was the right call. Hate to sound like I'm whining, but I'm really sick of this summer and just want fall to get here.

But those five miles went pretty well, all things considered. Splits were 6:37, 6:48, 6:46, 6:41 and 6:31. Challenging rollercoaster hills, many of which were pretty steep. The legs felt fine and I'm confident they had a lot more in them, but I could feel the humidity (and sun) sapping my strength. It just simply sucks to run in those conditions. Really would love some cooler, dryer days so I can better gauge things, but hopefully they're not far off.

Stopped the tempo portion after five miles and ran a little over a mile for a cool down, my shirt and shorts drenched in sweat and I continued to battle my sunglasses from steaming over as I did throughout the run. Good workout but I was glad it was done.

Because this tempo run was short, I hope to get in something else speedier this week but haven't decided just what or when yet.

w/u: Ran 2.0 miles @ 7:35/mile pace.
Ran 5.0 miles @ 6:42/mile pace.
c/d: Ran 1.3 miles @ 8:23/mile pace.
Paved roads.
Very hilly.
Mid to upper 70, sunny, extremely humid.
Saucony Kinvara 3, shorts, short sleeved shirt.

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