I made a tactical error today by deciding to start my run in the early afternoon. It was 27C to start and 29C by the end. This was bad because:
- I am not used to running in high temperatures yet. It’s only the first week of June, for Pete’s sake.
- I am still well off from being in the condition I was prior to missing 25 days of running
- In addition to being Africa hot, the humidity, in sharp contrast to last year, started at a low 32% and dropped to an even lower 30% by the end.
The latter led to EDMS1Extreme Dry Mouth Syndrome, which is quite unpleasant. But more than that, my energy was sapped out like some analogy I can’t think of right now. Like the sun was a giant vampire, and I was holding my neck right up to it.
At least I remembered sunblock and avoided getting burned again.
The heat was bad enough that I had to stop and regain some energy several times before continuing, like when I would play Halo and get my shields knocked down to nothing and have to hide until they filled back up. Except without the cool armour or aliens.
Amazingly, my BPM was only 152, probably because my pace was turtle-like for much of the run (I also saw a turtle at the lake, which is almost like seeing a unicorn) and my pace looks better because, as I said, it took a km or so before the heat really started knocking me down.
My knees felt decent, though, and they are just a little bit stiff now, some four hours later as I type this, so despite the run being a miserable slog, it’s gone better in terms of the legs holding up.
After arriving at the lake, I hydrated at the fountain by the dam and was just prepping to start when a trio of shirtless young guys (combined age probably equal to mine) came running over the dam, then stopped at the same fountain to drink as sweat glistened on their unnaturally perfect bodies. One of them was wearing shorts so, well, short, I am guessing his day job is as a go-go dancer.
I didn’t want to head out and then have them all gleefully glide past me, so I waited and sure enough, they bounded off like gazelle. It turned out they only got as far as the parking lot, where one of them was climbing a fallen tree for reasons. I reluctantly ran past them, but never saw them again, so I guess they either turned back or got beamed aboard their spaceship to be returned to the Planet of Young Men With Exquisitely Chiselled Bodies.
Anyway, it’s fitting that this was the highlight of the run, because most of it happened before I began running.
Next time I will run earlier, and if it looks to be hot ‘n dry, I will bring water.
Stats:
Run 780 Average pace: 6:11/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CW then CCW) Start: 1:18 p.m. Distance: 5.03 km Time: 31:06 Weather: Sunny Temp: 27-29ºC Humidity: 32-30% Wind: light to moderate BPM: 152 Weight: 166.0 Total distance to date: 5785 km Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Saucony Peregrine 12 (457 km)
