March 7th, 2009
Today will be the warmest day since winter began and I’m sitting here waiting for the mercury to rise. It’s 67.3 degrees at the moment and I want it to get at least to 70, though not for the reasons you might think. I know there are people out there who find 70 degrees to be fabulous running weather. Not me. I hate it. At least in my memory I do.
It stems less from actual discomfort than the horrible memory of my dehydration drama last September, coupled with my marathon training logs when I felt I’d slipped backwards in the speed department. I dread the performance hits I’m likely to see as summer approaches.
On the brighter side of the argument, perhaps the lack of speed growth during last year’s marathon training was also due to going from 6 days a week to 5 (though mileage was comparable) along with following Pfitz’s pace recommendation for long runs, start at MP+20% getting to MP+10% by the end…a slower ratio than I’d be shooting for now.
So this will be a telling season – my second “real” summer of training. And while I have an enormous fear that heat is going to stop the improvements I’m currently experiencing, I’m crossing all fingers and toes that it’s mostly perception leaving a sour taste in my mouth, not the weather itself.
I know I know, 70 is child’s play as far as heat goes, but coming from months of 20-30 degree days, it’ll be warm. And 70 degrees is where my running uniform becomes a sports bra and shorts – sadly, there’s nothing I can do to make myself cooler than that, it’s as close to nekkid as it gets.
So c’mon Heat, bring it on, show me what’s in store. Maybe I won’t hate you so much this year. I can only hope.
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I can see how an experience like that could make you heat-shy. I am also dreading summer training (as anything above 55 is too warm for me). Fortunately, my coach says I’ll be doing all my training based on heart rate, not paces. Which just goes to show you that looking at pace during the summer is bad news, both for the training and for the ego.
Ditto on 55+, I always feel like a whiner when I see all the heat/running calculators say “no performance hit below 60″. Glad you share the same limit. Lol on the ego crunch, though following HR sounds like the smartest way to deal with it, I’m so obstinate I wonder if I could. I’ll be looking to you to see how it goes and possibly follow suit.
I’m trying to figure what 20% of MP means. Does that mean a pace of MP + 20%? so an 8:00 MP would become 9:36 ?
Oops yeah, my bad, I’ll edit that to be clearer. Yeah, so for an 8:00 MP, you’d start the run at 9:36, finishing up at 8:48.
Yes, that starting speed does seem rather leisurely. On the heat thing: I know that coaches say you can train for it by running with extra layers on, but how many people actually do that I wonder?
Jim, if you live in the NE, you don’t need the extra layers (well, unless you want to die). You’ve already got several months of 80-90+ degree/high humidity weather. There’s no way to train for that. At best, you acclimate a little by the end of the summer. But not much.
I’ve seen a couple people mid-summer with coats and backpacks on while running and I have to assume they were training for Badwater or something equivalent. Julie’s right about the heat here, it’s why I end up sleep deprived in the summer, getting up as early as possible to get the coolest part of the day. Sucks.
I live in in California, and am originally from England. The extremes of climate that you experience seem like a different planet to me!