220.5 when I woke up and 216 after the morning run.
When I got started on my run it was already over 20 C in the morning and humidex or feels like time of about 27 (68F and 80 F to non metric folks) and when I ended it was up to 22 C and felt like 29 C (72 F and 84 F). The heat and humidity were up pretty high and sure enough before long I had a repeat of the Goofy Challenge going on where the my running hat was so saturated that I it was dripping wet – lovely.
I started out hoping to do 4 laps for approx. 17.5 to 18 miles but called it after 3 and stopped at 13.1 miles instead. With the heat I burnt through more water than I expected and ran out at about mile 10 but I figured I would stop at my house and refill before starting a 4th lap. Around this same time I ended up having to take my sunglasses off – by mile 12 I was starting to see lightning and it was darker than dusk out (at 10 am). So I was out of water, the heat was oppressive and I could see some really black clouds coming – sometimes you just have to listen when the universe says “stop”.
So in the end I did half marathon distance in just under 2:11 – about 8 minutes slower than last week – I would be disappointed but I understand the heat and the lack of water in the last few miles played a factor. I still felt fine and I wasn’t out of energy or anything like that but I just wasn’t able to push too hard due to the heat. That being said I also wasn’t pushing hard because I was hoping to do another 4.5 miles so I was holding back a bit as well.
I would still like to do a longer than half marathon distance run before my race (Cash Store – Run for Diabetes) on Sept 2nd so what I might do is swap my short (Saturday) and long (Sunday) runs next weekend to make sure I get it in and still have recovery time before the race.
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