Last week, the weather was so cool and perfect for a speed session. Today, it was a complete 180. It was awful. It was hot and very humid as I headed out around noon. I obviously should've got there much earlier.
I headed over to the Palmer Bike Path a few miles behind Walmart. I have biked there, but never ran this area. The plan was to run a tempo run, rather than the regular weekly speed intervals. Since I'm running hard on Thursdays, but not shooting for actual tempo pace, I decided to switch up the early weekday speed session.
I started off okay, although my legs didn't feel very good. They were great last week. I headed north on the path briefly and then turned around. I felt like I had to go to the bathroom and as I passed it I should've stopped. I tried going just a few minutes earlier with no success. I pressed on.
After a fast mile warmup, I started trying hit my target pace. It was tough in the heat. The real problem though was that I really had to go to the bathroom. I ended up stopping less than .4 miles from the start of the tempo portion. I walked back to the parking lot and used the restroom. I then decided rather than trying to run hard, I'd just make it an easy day.
Getting back into the run wasn't too bad early on. I passed a rock section that was very cool when combined with the Bushkill Creek on the other side of the path. Being comfortable was only temporary though. I soon headed into the sun and it started to get to me. I even ran without a shirt the whole time too.
There were quite a few people out on the path. As I caught up to some, I realized I was already at the end of the trail. It was disappointing because I thought it went farther down the road. It was only about a mile and a half back to the start.
I just kept focusing on short segments. The heat was really destroying me. Although I knew I'd finish, I was wondering how as I hit the three and a half mile mark. The humidity was just brutal. I'd run in worse conditions, but that was a few months ago. This was terrible. I concentrated on my form for awhile, but even that eventually fell off.
I picked it up a little in the final quarter mile. It was just enough to complete the workout in under a 9 minute pace. It was supposed to be an easy run, but the weather sure didn't make it easy. I definitely need to get up earlier for key workouts. Of course I didn't sleep well again or I might've.
Since I did the easy run today, I think I'll try the tempo run tomorrow. I need to get up in the morning for the six miler. It'll be cooler tomorrow too I guess. I think I'll probably head to the Wilson Bike Path this time. Even if I don't hit my times, I need to run at a fairly hard pace.
5 miles - 44:44 (8:57 pace)
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