Running in the heat

Today was supposed to be my peak long run. I was all set to do a 30km run near Lake Huron (nice and flat) but the temperatures got the better of me. I set out with plenty of water and Gatorade. I had a granola bar but I forgot my energy chews.  The heat hit me like I was running up a hill. It was 28 degrees C and the humidity oppressive making it feel about 35.  I also had a strong head wind after 12k and though it helped with cooling it was strong and sucked the wind out of me and made it hard to hear my headphones. I called in my ride (who was on call because of the heat).  I ended up doing about 16k...oh well. First time running in the heat. From what I have read online your body needs to acclimatize, so I guess I'll keep heading out when I can in the heat. Running a marathon at the Summer Solstice in Canada pretty much guarantees heat.

Resurrection

Wow, this is so amazing. I can't believe that this blog is still out here on the interwebs.  So many things have changed since my last post in 2007 (marriage and two babies later)!  Despite all the changes, I'm back into running and I'm in the midst of marathon training again. I started thinking it might be nice to blog about my running again.  This seems like as good a place as any to begin anew.

Running 9 years later has brought a few perks with it. One being that I have a smartphone with some amazing running apps that makes running more fun.  I also love snapping pics during my runs, which will make this blog more interesting too. 

This past weekend I ran 30km. It was tough and slow-going.  As you can see from the tagline of this blog, one of my goals has always been to run another marathon. Given that it's 12 years later, and I'm now 42, I'm not sure that I'll be able to beat my 30 year-old time of 4hrs and 36 min...but I think I'll try. 

Finding the time for long runs has been challenging with two small kids (4y and 17 months).  I was planning on doing one 32k next weekend and then begin the taper, but I've convinced myself that 30k is far enough. I just looked back on how I felt after my long runs in 2004 and I think I'm probably in better shape now- because my recovery seems pretty good. I'm only slightly achy- not even sore. I've also been getting in 4 runs a week plus a game of soccer (so 5 runs) - so maybe, just maybe this training plan will let me compete with my younger self's marathon time.  We will see...

Here is a pic from my 30k run.