Humid conditions

This was a relatively short run for the weekly long run - 14 miles - but it turned out to be one of the more challenging. The humidity was the assassin in the shadows, and at about 70 and rising the temperature was just warm enough to make the conditions a bit murky right from the start. It wasn't one of those mornings where it was cool and invigorating.

For some reason I was impatient and wanted to finish the run as soon as possible. I wasn't in a hurry, so I don't know why I was thinking that way, and it's really not a good frame of mind to be in for a long training run. You should be thinking "take your time and take it easy."

I began the run with a 10:17 mile, was right at 9 min. by the third mile, and then did 8 miles between 8:29 and 8:58. After finishing mile 12 in 9:15 I stopped at the truck to hydrate, and once did I realized I was pretty under-hydrated for the conditions. I was slightly light headed and breathing too heavily for the effort I was expending - but  I drank quite a bit and took a 3 or 4 minute break before starting out on my last two miles, which I took very easy, averaging 10 min.

At the end, my shirt and shorts were drenched. I had two hats along, and swapped them out whenever I looped back to the truck in an effort to keep the one on my head somewhat dry, so I think I made 4 or 5 swaps. After I got home and showered I weighed myself and I was down 5 lbs, almost all of it water weight.

So, the run took more out of me than I might have anticipated, but it still was a good run. I averaged 9:09 overall, doing the distance in 2:07:59.

For the week I had exactly 38 miles.