High-Octane

Sometimes you just have those days. How was your hydration before and during the run?

I probably drank about 8oz of water before the run (it was 6:30 am) and then carried 2 8oz bottles. I drank one after the 2 mile warm-up and one during the Tempo run. I was already sweating like a pig at the end of the 2 mile warm-up but I was not tired at all at that point.

Actually I've heard pigs don't sweat :-)

Any suggestions? Maybe I need to drink a lot more. I still lost about 4 lbs on this 7 mile run!

Drinking helps, but it doesn't perform magic. A hot day is still a hot day!

I usually try to drink a quart of water soon after waking up (that's how much water you lose during the night while sleeping). Then drink another 8 oz immediately before running, and about 6 oz every 15 minutes while running. You have to play around with the fluids to see how much your stomach can handle. You don't want water sloshing around in your stomach.

It's good you're using the HR monitor, because on hot days it's better to run by feel or heart rate than by speed. I forget the exact numbers, but it's something like a 2% dehydration weight loss equates to a 5% performance reduction. If you lost 4 lbs that's probably a bit more than 2% of your weight. You made the right choice slowing down. You still got in a good workout.

Thanks DL for the good advice. I think I'm probably starting out with a deficite and toping that off with too little fluid intake. I remember going through this same thing last year. I'll try to load up on my next run and set out some water bottles along the route. I think I'm far from over hydrating.

My weight flucuates from 150 to 160 depending on hydration. I believe my "normal" weight is 158 so I'm probably exceeding the %'s you stated above. In my longer runs I have lost up to 8lbs.

That kind of heat and humidity makes it tough. You didn't exactly run an easy pace yesterday either. I'm guessing if yesterdays pace had been 8:30ish today's pace would have come a lot easier. At least that's how it usually works for me.

IJR - you hit the nail on the head when you said go by effort. Those recommended paces are not taking into account summer in Texas. Sometimes I am only 5-10 seconds/mile slower, sometimes it seems like 20-30 seconds slower. Still frusturating though, even though you know why it's happening!

Thank you for the information regarding hydration and training. I am happy to know that I am not as crazy as I thought. I have slowed and during my runs I feel like I can't get enough water.

Those are still very fast times. I think the upper HR zones are more susceptible to heat than the lower ones.

Dave, You're probably right about yesterday's run. I keep thinking I can do more than my old body is capable of.

Joe, It is frustrating because I'm trying to hit the paces for the RLRF training program. I'm still training for that 3:16 marathon.

Bec, Thank DL he know a lot about this stuff. I'm just the new (old) kid on the block :-)

Flat, I'm going to go back and look at some of my comparable times and HR's from last summer. I think I've come a long way, we'll see.

I went back and compared last summer's tempo runs with this year's tempo runs. It appears I've cut about 30 seconds per mile off my 6-7 mile tempo runs. This is with the same temperatures and HR.