It was rather warm today and even by 7 p.m. when I headed out for my run it was still about 25ºC, although the sky was hazy. A moderate breeze was blowing. By the end of the run it had cooled a bit, down to around 22ºC.
The first km was my best yet since returning to 10K runs — 5:02 — but I slid quickly after that, falling to 5:08 by the second km and 5:15 by the third. I kept slogging along and at the 6K mark developed a cramp. Fortunately this one only lasted 30 seconds or so and was gone. I have two established patterns as of this run: my pace when it is hot (hot defined as around 25ºC or higher) seems to be consistently around 5:37/km, as it was tonight and my previous (hot) morning run. Many of the average times are identical. The other pattern is in the second half of my run where my performance evens out and each km sees a smaller gap than in the first half. Even tonight once I was past the halfway mark, I was only adding two seconds per km. I like this, as it bodes well for if and when I decide to increase the distance beyond 10K.
There were an unusually large number of puppies at the park. Puppies are very distracting, thanks to their inherent bonuses for cuteness.
Chart:
Chart (red denotes running in especially warm conditions, green denotes cramps during run):
| km | Aug 4 | July 28 | July 25 | July 21 | July 17 | July 13 | July 11 | July 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 5:02 | 5:06 | 5:10 | 5:05 | 5:06 | 5:10 | 5:15 | 5:10 |
| 2 km | 5:08 | 5:09 | 5:13 | 5:08 | 5:09 | 5:14 | 5:20 | 5:13 |
| 3 km | 5:15 | 5:14 | 5:15 | 5:14 | 5:12 | 5:18 | 5:24 | 5:14 |
| 4 km | 5:19 | 5:19 | 5:18 | 5:19 | 5:14 | 5:21 | 5:27 | 5:18 |
| 5 km | 5:23 | 5:23 | 5:20 | 5:24 | 5:17 | 5:23 | 5:29 | 5:21 |
| 6 km | 5:26 | 5:26 | 5:22 | 5:28 | 5:20 | 5:25 | 5:31 | 5:24 |
| 7 km | 5:29 | 5:29 | 5:24 | 5:32 | 5:22 | 5:26 | 5:33 | 5:27 |
| 8 km | 5:32 | 5:32 | 5:26 | 5:36 | 5:24 | 5:29 | 5:35 | 5:30 |
| 9 km | 5:35 | 5:35 | 5:28 | 5:39 | 5:26 | 5:30 | 5:36 | 5:33 |
| 10 km | 5:37 | 5:38 | 5:28 | 5:40 | 5:27 | 5:30 | 5:37 | 5:34 |
