I ran a speed workout on my mall loop this morning. I ran a total of 15 miles in 1:49:57. I got out earlier than normal because I wanted to get some speed work in and I didn't want to fight the heat as much as normal. I got out the door at 6:30 and realized very quickly that I should have made it out the door by 5:30 at the absolute latest. It is not that it was incredibly hot at 6:30 (although it was pretty hot by the time I finished), what really killed me was the sun beating down on me as I looped around the mall parking lot (virtually no shade and the sun was already way up in the sky by 6:30) as the sun here just drains me. Based on the forecast it appears that the temperature was around 80 degrees when I started the run, plus or minus a little, and in the mid to upper 80's by the time I finished. About 5 miles into the run, I ran 2.5 miles hard (2 loops around the mall) at what felt like a good effort that I would normally maintain for a 5 mile tempo. Finished in 14:03, with lap splits of 7:09 and 6:54. Half mile splits were 2:51, 2:51, 2:49, 2:48, 2:44 (last quarter in 79 running uphill). After finishing the mini tempo, I ran 3 more loops around the mall (3.75 miles) before running one last loop hard (1.25 miles) in 6:51, with quarter splits of 81 (downhill), 83, 84, 83 (all three rolling), 80 (uphill). HR maxed out at 186 at the end of the last 2 hard loops, with an average HR of 176 for the last loop around the mall. Considering the pace, the HR was way, way higher than it should have been. It is hard to tell how much of the high HR is due to the heat, and how much is due to the breathing issues I have been having. Breathing felt better at the beginning of the run in comparison to yesterday's runs, however I did feel like I started to wheeze a little bit after I ran my first mini tempo section, and my HR never dropped below 150 after that point. However, it was also starting to get hotter around the same time, so it is hard to pinpoint how much of the problem is heat related, and how much is breathing related. After I got home I weighed myself before eating breakfast (I did eat a little cantaloupe first) and I weighed 118 pounds. I have been weighing around 118 fairly consistently after all my longer runs lately. I feel like I am in high school again as I wrestled 119 my senior year (although I was an inch shorter then).
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