Unexpected

The heat of summer is fully on here in the central valley.

This morning at 6:30 it was already 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ugghh, too hot for running, and yet my training regimen called for a 3 mile tempo run.

With warm-up and cool-down, a total of 7 miles.  I was already plenty warm, and there would be no cooling down before returning to my air conditioned house.

The first 2 miles were nice and easy, too warm, but easy.  I got my active stretching in - butt kicks, and knee highs.

I took a couple of swigs of water and then the tempo run began.

The first mile my pace felt awkward and off.  I figured I would be lucky to maintain an 8:30 minute per mile pace.  Sprinklers were on in the park.  Nice and cool, but they are about head level on me and hit with some force.  It felt like it was mucking up my stride.

Finally my Garmin watch vibrated indicating that I had finished the first tempo mile.  I look down:

7:57

Crazy!  I kept going, not pushing too hard.  At that pace, I was 27 seconds faster than what my training plan called for.  So I figured I could slow down.

Garmin vibrates for end of second mile.

8:15

Still 8 seconds faster than I need, but really not feeling like I was pushing too hard.

The last mile, I always bring up my tempo mantra - "It doesn't hurt, its just uncomfortable and I'm breathing hard."  So I kept breathing hard.

Garmin vibrates for third mile.

8:08

Nice, and totally unexpected.


As you can see, I take my easy running very seriously and slowwwww.  A best pace of 6:21 also unexpected and very brief as I dashed across a highway.