Sal's

Running, Biking, Swimming, Triathlons, Snowshoeing: what's next? Sal's kicks butt.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Quirks of the Human Body

Three days ago I went on a run through our village. The Rochester area has set a record this year with the number of days over 80 degrees. Typically the dew point has also been high, from low 60's to upper 70's, which makes exercise uncomfortable. I suffer greatly in this weather, finding it hard to breathe and sweating excessively, to the point that going more than three miles is futile.

This day the temperature was 81 and dew point 61. My run was a downhill route for a mile, then flat, and ending with some small uphills/inclines/flat over the last 1.4 miles. Jan biked along with me. I felt okay at the start, not great but my legs were willing to move. The first mile seemed like a decent pace, but was actually 30+ seconds slower than normal. The flat section along the canal was worse, 45 seconds off my normal easy run pace. Then we began climbing a bit and my struggle was worse, over a minute off normal pace and not feeling easy.

I made it home exhausted and drank at least half a gallon of water over next couple of hours. After showering I put my pj's on and did no further exercising (it was only 6pm).

Yesterday I didn't feel great, could have easily bagged the run, but wanted to get in a few miles to add to my weekly total. I drove to the canal to run on a totally flat surface. It was the same 81 degrees and 61 dew point. After about five minutes I felt pretty good. My first mile was a decent pace and I began thinking this day might go okay. My legs and breathing got better the further I ran. Instead of my planned simple three miles I extended it to four. I did an out and back route and on the way back did 12x45 seconds hard, 15 seconds easy. My pace for the last two miles was 35-40 seconds/mile faster than usual.

Why the difference? Same temperatures, same dew point. My body actually felt more sore leading into the the second run than the first. This is why racing is so hard. I never know which body is going to show up on race morning. If you have an answer please let me know. I would like to be able to predict my performance better.

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