I nearly stepped on as snake on my first run today. It was sunning right where my foot was heading. Fortunately, we saw each other in time and adjusted accordingly.
And yes, my first run. Let me explain!
I knew it would be hot today (forecast high of 30C) so I headed out at 8:46 a.m. In terms of temperature, the run started at 22C, which is fine. The first four km also felt fine, if a bit slower. I had already decided to maintain a BPM of 150, so I knew my pace would drop, as I’d need to work harder to maintain the pace in cooler temperatures. All good.
Around the 4K mark, I began to flag. I didn’t feel bad, exactly, and I kept to that 150 BPM. But I noticed a couple of things: the utter absence of any breeze (even when it’s hot, a little breeze is nice) and an oppressive level of humidity, which has so far been the defining feature of the weather this summer. My pace continued to collapse unto itself and by the 6K mark I paused to let my heart rate come down, then set off again. At the 7K mark, I did the same thing, but impulsively chose to stop the run instead of pausing it. I immediately regretted this.
After about a minute to gather my strength, I started another run, adding 3K to make for a combined total of 10K. The stats below are smooshed together from the two runs.
I’m not sure heading out even earlier on Wednesday would help, as it’s bound to be even more humid earlier in the morning, and not much cooler. We’ll see.
On a more positive note, I saw another bunny. It hopped across the trail in front of me. Or maybe it was the same bunny as before. So far, every bunny has been the same brown color, so who can say? Other than the bunny.
And one more positive note: Despite the yuck-o humidity, I didn’t experience any issues on the run–no cramps, pains, twinges and, of course, my mouth did not dry out at all, since it felt like I was running inside a bag of water.
Stats:
Run 696 Average pace: 6:22/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW) Start: 9:32 a.m. Distance: 10.07 km Time: 63:59 Weather: Sunny Temp: 22-25ºC Humidity: 64-76% Wind: nil BPM: 150 Weight: 164.2 Total distance to date: 5105 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (213 km) NOTE: Due to a premature stop, the stats above are a combination of a 7K and 3K run with about a minute gap between them.