With a number of activities on tap for the evening and not wanting to fall behind on my running schedule I decided to do a rare morning run today, starting out just before 11 a.m. The temperature was around 20ºC when I started and creeping past 24ºC by the time I finished less than an hour later. There was a moderate wind and not a cloud in the sky.
Since it was late morning I figured the sun might become an issue and as pointed out above, the temperature climbed fairly quickly and it was quite noticeable. The shade from the trees and the breeze provided a welcome respite from the direct sun but there aren’t a lot of trees lining the path and the wind wasn’t exactly cool. My first 2 km were still brisk but after that the heat began to get to me and my pace slowed by a whopping 11 seconds over the next two km. As usual I found some equilibrium in the second half of the run and things evened out a bit, but I ended with a pace of 5:37/km (5:38 according to the Nike site and its ‘new math’). While this isn’t a great result, considering how warm it was, the fact that I had to go to the bathroom for the better part of the run, the pungent smell of manure wafting across the park and finally a desire to get some food as noon approached, I’m not going to complain too much.
I will, however, stick to the evenings when I can in the future. The difference in comfort is striking.
Chart (red denotes running in especially warm conditions, green denotes cramps during run):
| Distance | July 28 | July 25 | July 21 | July 17 | July 13 | July 11 | July 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 km | 5:06 | 5:10 | 5:05 | 5:06 | 5:10 | 5:15 | 5:10 |
| 2 km | 5:09 | 5:13 | 5:08 | 5:09 | 5:14 | 5:20 | 5:13 |
| 3 km | 5:14 | 5:15 | 5:14 | 5:12 | 5:18 | 5:24 | 5:14 |
| 4 km | 5:19 | 5:18 | 5:19 | 5:14 | 5:21 | 5:27 | 5:18 |
| 5 km | 5:23 | 5:20 | 5:24 | 5:17 | 5:23 | 5:29 | 5:21 |
| 6 km | 5:26 | 5:22 | 5:28 | 5:20 | 5:25 | 5:31 | 5:24 |
| 7 km | 5:29 | 5:24 | 5:32 | 5:22 | 5:26 | 5:33 | 5:27 |
| 8 km | 5:32 | 5:26 | 5:36 | 5:24 | 5:29 | 5:35 | 5:30 |
| 9 km | 5:35 | 5:28 | 5:39 | 5:26 | 5:30 | 5:36 | 5:33 |
| 10 km | 5:38 | 5:28 | 5:40 | 5:27 | 5:30 | 5:37 | 5:34 |
