100

It was 100 degrees outside when I left work, and only marginally cooler on the outskirts of town where we live. I decided with that sort of temperature it was best to shoot for 4 miles and that seemed to be about right given that I'm also trying to keep the time outside shorter. I continued the 8/2 practice and ran the hillier part of my route because it also has more shade. This stuff is supposed to break on Monday. Don't know if I'll run or not on Saturday mainly because I don't feel like getting up early again. I saw a couple of cyclists today but no other runners. Weenies.

Another Delayed Post

Ran again yesterday with the temperature at about 95 degrees. I did the 8/2 running/walking thing again and once more it worked very well. I was shooting to be out for 60 minutes and that was about right if I included the walk at the beginning. My total ended up being 5 miles and that seems a good distance in the heat. At times it felt like I was trying to get in as little distance as possible but that's okay. It's supposed to stay hot through the weekend, which means more run/walk sessions.

I Ran Yesterday

Even though it was Saturday I got up early to run before the day got hot. And I'm glad I did. A bunch of other people were out as well. I ran 8 miles and felt pretty good afterward. That gets me up to 20 miles again for the week (or close to it if you're keeping track at home, but I'm going by effort to make up the quarter-mile that I didn't technically run). It's supposed to be hot again this week, and up to 98 degrees by next Saturday. This is like earlier this year, except it was Winter that kept appearing after Spring made an appearance for a few days. Last week it was almost Autumn-like, whereas this weekend and next week we're back to Summer. As I've said before, though, you won't catch me complaining about the heat. Bring it!

91

It was 91 degrees when I went out for a run this afternoon and I changed up my strategy. Again, this is an idea I should have thought of long ago. I decided that rather than running the usual 6 miles I would run/walk for a set amount of time. I set out to run 8 minutes and walk for 2 of every 10 minutes. It kept me from heating up too much. I was aiming for 60 minutes total or just under, but this being my first time to try it I was off by 4 1/2 minutes. I ended up going 5.75 miles. Next time I'll adjust a little more and shave off that extra bit. Didn't see too many other people out in the sun today, but that was no surprise.

Evening Run

Today was an odd day. The air conditioner has frozen up a few times in the past few days, and I thought we had the problem solved with a new filter on Saturday. However, today it froze up again. The Wife texted me about it so I talked with someone at work who's an HVAC expert. He said it was probably the A-coil and told me I needed to get some evaporator cleaner. I spent two hours getting to the interior of the unit, spraying the coils, and putting it back together. Naturally The Wife also had a meeting here tonight. The temperature hasn't gone down much yet but I can't tell if that's because of the a/c or because we have a lot of people in the house.

That's the intro to why I ran at 7 p.m. tonight instead of a couple of hours earlier. That actually turned out to be okay since it was over 90 degrees today. It was still in the upper 80s when I was out but the sun was going down and there was a little bit of a breeze. Unfortunately I forgot to drink something between working on the a/c and running, or it probably would have gone better. In spite of that I still ran the 6 miles at a 9:30 pace. Needless to say, I've been pretty thirsty since getting home.

I Ran on Saturday

Today is Sunday, but I ran yesterday and didn't log it until now. It was a nice 6-miler, run without iPod or Garmin. Also without contact lenses, which I probably should have worn but thought if I was going all-natural I'd go all the way. There were probably a couple dozen other people out running on a nice, cool Saturday morning. No telling how fast I actually ran but it felt pretty good and unstrained. I should have run Thursday in St. Louis but the Virtual Running Partner had work calls and I wasn't particularly motivated to get up early. I keep thinking I need to pick a race to run this fall but haven't done it yet. I was talking with someone at church this morning about races this fall, which should serve as another reminder that I need to get it done.

Two 3-Milers

This morning the Virtual Running Partner was in physical presence instead of the usual virtual reality. He's been nursing an almost-sprained ankle and could only go 3 miles today. He ended up on a phone call for work so I headed out for a solo 3-miler and then came back to get him for the second part of my run and all of his. We kept the pace reasonably slow, clocking in at just about 10 minutes/mile. The sky was overcast and the temperature was in the mid-60s when I started. It was a very nice day for running, and of course it's always good to get together once in a while with my Virtual Buddy.

Neighborhood Run

This morning was mild and sunny. For a change of pace I headed north in the neighborhood, a way I haven't one in a long time. The developers are opening up a new phase and the big earth movers were out putting in sewer and water lines. I used to run this route back in the day when I would loop around the neighborhood several times. Apparently it's been a few years. The street at the north end of the development where I would turn east is now the third street from the end. A lot of homes and families now live in the area, and I had no idea. Before I knew it I'd run a mile and a half and I was still in the neighborhood.

I ran 6 miles all together and took another route through the development to the east of ours that I also used to run. It has a big hill up the middle and then I used to run down one side road or the other. It was nice to change things up so much and kept me from being on the main routes the whole time. By the time I made it home the temperature had risen to 76 degrees, but in August that's certainly nothing to complain about.

Give Me a Break

Today was another of the sporadic breaks in the heat, with plenty of cloud cover to boot. In other words, it was nice. I felt like I was running pretty fast, but that's relative since my overall pace turned out to be 9:37/mile. Not real speedy, but certainly faster than the recent runs during the heat. My pacing was also affected by a lack of sleep last night, I'm sure. Late goings on at work with a crappy computer system meant I had to stay up late on the phone, and then of course I woke up before the alarm went off. Not much fun, but at least tomorrow is Friday. Saw a few people out running today, but not as many as you would think with the cooler weather. I wore the old shoes again as part of my rotation to integrate the new pair, but also because there were some sprinkles on the way home and I didn't want to wear the new ones if it rained.

Wet Air

Thankfully there was plenty of cloud cover for this afternoon's run. In fact, the sun came out just as I finished, a great example of perfect timing. The temperature was 88 degrees and the heat index was 96. Due to the clouds I was able to run, slowly, almost the whole 6 miles. I walked about three minutes on the way back by the golf course. That was because what little wind there was blew from the south and at the time I was running north. Not only did the air feel wet, it felt like a still, smothering blanket. The walk cooled me down enough  to make it the rest of the way home. I saw about five other runners out today, a pretty low number but understandable on a warm, humid day.

Humidity is Tough

This was another day where the temperature was lower but the humidity was sky-high. When I left this morning about 8:30 the temperature was 73 degrees. Right before I started the sun came out and that steamed up things. I ran 6 miles at a decent enough pace, just under 10 minutes/mile, but at times it seemed like things were dragging. I ran over to the Interstate to change the route and came back uphill against the breeze, and I was fine with that. There's a serious lack of shade that way but the wind was definitely a part of my plans. Saw a few people out running, probably a dozen or so, but not nearly as many as when it was cool out. I wore the old shoes again and next week I will rotate in the new ones for two out of the three runs.

August Arrival

The first day of August arrived today with some heat and humidity, but not to the extremes they could be. In fact, this afternoon the high was 89 degrees. I probably should have taken a bottle of water with me, but I didn't. I walked three times from mile 4 on, and although I wasn't in desperate shape it was just me trying to be smart and manage the heat. 89 degrees obviously isn't the same as 100, but it's still pretty darn hot for a runner. The breeze was out of the south, meaning the last two miles were with the wind and therefore not as cool as running into the wind.

I wore the new shoes again and I can definitely tell they're different. I don't like that shoe companies make such major changes between models of the same shoe. If my knees start hurting then I'm going to be ticked.