Heat Wave

Boy, Summer has sure come a calling here in Toronto! We are experiencing a pretty major heatwave, and I am not going to complain at all. I love the heat!

It does make running a bit more challenging, but I look at it as a training opportunity rather than a hindrance.

Backing up a little, I finished off the recovery week with a steamy 15km run on Sunday morning to compile a decent 42km for the week. It was hot and my heart rate was up into the 150s near the last section of the run despite feeling like I was running in the high 130s or low 140s on the perceived effort meter. I enjoyed the run as it proved to be a good test of hot weather running. It didn't help that I slept in and left relatively late (about 8am), but having spent all of Saturday outside coaching a doubleheader of baseball, then going to an outdoor pool with the boys, and lastly hosting a BBQ dinner at our house, I was pretty wiped and wanted to try and get some good sleep time.

This week the weather just keeps getting hotter. Yesterday it was about +39C with the humidity (+30C without) and today as I left for my run at 5:45am the thermometer already showed +25C and with the humidity it was already over +30C! I won't bother doing the conversions to Fahrenheit, but let's just say that no matter what the temperature it is the humidity that makes things really tough. You sweat like crazy and it NEVER evaporates.

Anyway, I ran a nice 12km this morning and once more the heart rate was higher than it would have been had the weather been a bit cooler and less sticky. I am OK with that though because I never actually felt like I was pushing that hard despite the fact that my heart rate monitor reading went up into the 160s a couple of times. The overall average was 147bpm, which was nice, but the second half of the run was definitely averaging in the mid 150s. Both runs started off slow and then the pace picked up because I am feeling pretty good these days. Sunday's run averaged out at 5:28/km and this morning it was 5:24/km, and I think that translates into the 8:40's per mile pace, which is not too shabby for yours truly.

I wonder what the weather will be like tomorrow morning as I attempt to run another 15km or so? Today's forecast calls for a high of +33C and +43C with humidity. Nuts!