Hot weather is finally here :)

Summer was rung in with a sweltering 30 degrees c today. Warm enough that I ran without my shirt on for the first time this year. I know, I know, how many people did I scare. That aside it was the right thing to do as it was the most comfortable way to run.

I also decided that I didn’t want to run with the water belt. To make up for the lack of fluids I planted a bottle around the 1/2 way mark on Corkstown Road. This was a really good idea. First of all the belt would have just added to the heat and forced me to wear a shirt to avoid chaffing. The placement worked well as I went by the bottle twice; once on the way west on Corkstown and on the way back on the path where it comes very close to Corkstown again. It was much nicer to run without that belt.

Tonight was a 70 minute run with 30 minutes at my Steady State (SS) pace (4:14 – 4:21 min/km) in the middle. I felt it more with the heat tonight but my pace and HR were actually very good. I think you feel more in part as the burns more to breathe harder in this hot weather. I averaged for 4:15 for the SS section tonight.

Where I did see the heat have an effect was during the last cool down section. My HR in particular was higher than past weeks and in general I just felt it more.

Overall, I have to say that running in this heat was okay. It’s a lot better than January in my book.

Tomorrow night its back to the RR for an easy 10ish k with the guys. I also start doing a few strides from this point on after my Wednesday and Saturday runs. After this week I’ll also start adding morning recovery runs. During the spring build up they were particularly helpful after the tougher workouts.