At 84°F, tonight’s run was the coolest of the week so far. I planned on an eight miler at around 7 minutes 30 seconds pace, but ended up racing the clock and having a great workout. The first mile was a steady 7:26 which felt really, really easy, which I followed up with a 7:08. After a quick stop for a drink at a surprisingly cold and clean water fountain, I picked up the pace for the next two miles (6:59 and 6:52) and set myself a goal of averaging 7 minutes per mile or less.
After reading marathondudebill’s recent post about running in the heat (well worth a read before your next run in the sun!), I’ve been more careful about hydration and definitely more conscious of drinking as often as possible. With this in mind I ran a two mile loop to get me back to the water fountain for a second drink. Both of these miles were quicker than the previous four (6:50 and 6:48), and now my average speed was only just above the magic 7 minute mile pace.
Refreshed and raring to go, I stepped up the tempo again and headed for home. The last two miles were tough but there was no way I was going to let the pace drop and managed to finish strong with a 6:44 and a 6:39. Average pace turned out to be 6:56 per mile which naturally I was very happy with.
On a sad note, I had to retire my Adidas Adistar Cushion 5’s tonight. I ran in them last night and was surprised at how flat and unresponsive they were. My shins were sore today and I’m sure the shoes were the cause (not surprising as I’ve covered well over the magic 400 miles in them, which for me is about all I can expect from a pair of training shoes). Luckily I still have several other pairs on the go, so I won’t be heading to the local running store any time soon.
I so WANT to be a runner…I love the promise of it.
now to DO and not TRY (as I tell my peeps :))
M.
Ah, you can do it. Check out some of the “Blogs I Like” over on the right hand side for inspiration….
Good luck!
–Steve
Hi Steve,
Just checking in to see what you’ve been up to lately! I see your doing night runs to stay cool. 😉 I tried doing that last summer & it was still SO hot here (I’m factoring in the 20 degrees warmer it feels when running!), so I’m trying mornings instead. What’s the typical morning temperature in your neck of the woods?! Here, it’s still 75 degrees at 7:15 am, so it looks like maybe it’d be cooler at say, 5:30 am?! 😉 BTW, thanks for the Digg shout — and the reminder to add strength back into my training. 😉
Hope all’s well with you!
-C
Hey Corey,
Night runs are actually late afternoon runs. If I don’t run as soon as I get home from work, I typically won’t run at all.
Occasionally I’ll run in the morning before work (around 5:30am), but the temperature last week was still in the 70’s at this time of day – crazy really. Also, I don’t get as much out of the morning runs as I’m still half asleep…
You’re right, strength is important and I’m trying to be better about it in my training program too. At the moment I’m just muddling through, building up the miles and doing a bit of core work/dumbell work before I start my next marathon plan in a few weeks time.
Have a good weekend,
–Steve