Average pace: 5:18/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CCW)
Distance: 7.03 km
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 27-29ºC
Wind: light to nil
Calories burned: 557
Total distance to date: 2597 km
I love to complain about the heat when I’m running. Heat is bad. It makes you sweat excessively, slows you down and makes a normal run feel much harder (because it is). But during the summer of 2012 I found that by sticking to my routine I was able to acclimate to the hotter temperatures and while I can’t say I’m a fan of running when it’s in the high 20s or around 30 degrees, it no longer makes much difference to my pace.
But the process of acclimation is one that has to build up each year. This normally happens naturally, as temperatures slowly rise through April, May and June. By the time summer officially begins we are near maximum temperature, barring a few token heatwaves lasting a couple of days.
Such acclimation has not been possible with the temperature freakishly high the past few days. While it was much warmer than usual for Tuesday’s run, today’s was downright uncomfortable, with the temperature ranging from about 27 to 29ºC. I would normally expect to have two more months to build up to these sorts of temperatures.
All of this is to say tonight’s run was yucky.
My feet and legs behaved themselves but I felt sluggish. The air along the trail had that mid-summer thickness in places, where just breathing seems harder than it should be. For the first time in a long time I simply wanted the run to be over. When it ended my pace was 5:18/km, a full eight seconds slower than the previous run.
It looks to be cooler for the weekend so my time should improve. On the other hand I’m planning on a full loop around the lake so my time will probably be worse. But at least Mother Nature will not be to blame this time.
