Short Strides In The Heat

Both boys woke up at some point in the middle of the night last night - we have no idea what this is all about.  I mean at 6 and 2 1/2 there should be no night time issues anymore, right?  Oh well...this will pass.

However, due to being woken up in the middle of the night, I was not going to be getting out of bed or leaving the house before 6am.  So I had figured my run today was going to be scratched.

I got to work and saw that my 11am conference call was canceled.  Then, the 10am call that I chair finished early (stuck to the agenda - no tangents, no rat holes - everyone appreciates meetings like that!).  Hmmm...it's 10:30am with a gaping 90 minutes in my calendar where I was supposed to be in meetings - time for a run!!!  (oh, the benefits of telecommuting)

So, the scratched run - Easy Run followed by 6 x 50m Short Strides - was back on.  I decided that since it was a Short Strides day that I would do my usual - jog to the track, do the speedwork at the track, jog back.  Since it was 85 degrees outside, it occurred to me to go to the gym instead - no humidity, air conditioning and fans cooling you down.  But for 50m sprints, by the time you get the speed of the treadmill high enough it's time to get back to recovery mode.

It's been a while since I have run in temperatures this hot.  Oh man.  Running in heat and humidity sucks!  Now I know why all the track and field athletes are making such a big stink about the Summer Olympics - I could not imagine doing this in smoggy, hot and humid air.  Hot and humid by itself is bad enough.  Runner's World wrote that Kara Goucher has been using a "sauna suit" to train with to get her accustomed to training in the heat and humidity.  She doesn't need a sauna suit - just send her here to train during the summer.

I actually made it to the track alright, and did my speedwork pretty well.  After my third sprint, I found it more difficult to recover completely during my jog.  However, the jog back home was treacherous!  I wanted to just stop with about a half a mile to go, but I "shuffled" it back home.

So - the next time I'm contemplating whether to get my behind out of bed at 5:30am to go running, I just need to remember how awful the alternative - running in 85+ degree heat with humidity - is.