Warm Weather Running

For as long as I can remember I have suffered intolerably on my first few warm weather runs each year. No matter how great a shape I am in beforehand, when the temp's ratchet up from 15 degrees (59 F) to 25 degrees (77 F), my pace suffers a precipitous fall. I thought (hoped ... prayed) that today it would be different. After all, I am now super-marathon-man!

Alas, it was not to be :-(

I set off on a regular run down South Road hopeful of setting a 'PB' for this course, especially seeing as I had run it so well in my marathon training. It is a 12.5km run with a net elevation drop (it is undulating) of 40m on the way out and obviously uphill the same on the way back. Not hard, but not easy. And so often my nemesis.

I have never run under the hour for this course - except for my last 32km training run for the marathon where I covered it in around 59.50min as the first 6 and last 6 k's of that run. Certainly I could now run a similar time or better without the 20km in between!

I cruised down to the turn in 28.46min (4.36m/k) at a pace that felt very controlled, but getting harder as I heated up. Surely I could run back home in 31 minutes???? Ok, I'll cut this bit short. No I couldn't. It was run/walk/jog/walk/walk/jog all the way back. A return leg of 36.05min (5.46m/k) and a total time of 64.51min (5.11m/k). Aargh!!!!!!

Well, I did it. But it is clearly not one of my more convincing efforts. Hopefuly as I get used to the warmth (this is not heat, I will run in 100+deg.F later in summer) my times will come back down.

Or maybe I'll just focus on my cycling for a while. After all, my training calendar does have six of our state's highest rideable peaks on it over the next few months (Mt Buller, Lake Mountain, Mt Buffalo, Mt Hotham, Falls Creek and Mt Baw Baw). Goodness knows we'll probably throw a seventh (Mt Donna Buang) or eighth (Dinner Plain) in our pursuit of "stampys" for the Alpine Ascent Challenge. But that for another post.