Long is a Relative Term

I did a long run this morning on the Seabrook trails.

Long, of course, is a relative term. When I trained for a marathon, my long run maxed out at 22 miles. Earlier this year while training for the Half Ironman, my long runs were the two Seabrook Half Marathons. But since the Charlotte Half Marathon in mid-April, I have only run 3-4 miles at any given point, so today's "long run" was a mere 5.1 miles.

I started just after 9:00, a little later than I'd planned but still early enough that the heat wasn't completely oppressive. The first three miles went well, and I followed the 11/1 run/walk pattern that I did on all my long runs this past winter -- 10:54, 11:24, 11:54. I slowed down over time, but that is typical of my running in the heat.

Mile 4 was horrible. I walked three times during that mile and the split showed it -- 12:12. I considered stopping at 4 and just walking the mile back to the car, but then I heard thunder. Woohoo!

I know, I shouldn't be excited about thunder, but in this case, it also meant that clouds rolled in to cover the sun, the "feels like" temperature dropped by 5-10 degrees, and it started to rain. I got all wet, but felt so much better with the slightly cooler air. I did the last mile at a much more respectable 11:34 and only the 11/1 pattern -- no extra walk breaks.

The summary? Summer heat and I just don't get along. It's frustrating to see my times slow so much, and it's hard for me to believe that I ran a 29:45 5K just a month ago. I just have to keep telling myself that even if I'm running super slow in the heat, the fact that I'm running at all will make me faster this fall.