I just love running in cool weather.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Maybe it’s all in my head. I kind of told myself yesterday’s run was going to be slow and hard…and it was. I always tend to run poorly on days of high heat and humidity, which yesterday was, and so my expectations were low going in. In fact, I ran my Clear Creek course in about 64 minutes – the same one I ran in a pr of 58:16 three days earlier.

So…today it’s cool and the humidity is almost non-existent…as Cleveland humidity goes. Now, if I’m right about how weather affects me, I should be able to rip one and since it was my tempo run day, I decided to take it out hard and see where it went.

I hit my first check point almost 90 seconds ahead of my pr pace and continued to feel strong until I hit 40 minutes. I worked hard to hold on and when I was nearing Clear Creek, I peeked at the watch. I was way ahead and finished strong in 55:36 – 2:40 faster than ever before! It was actually cool enough that I didn’t feel like jumping in, but I sure was happy with the effort. I like to think the course is around 7 miles, so my times are starting to get respectable for a 55-year old, still over-weight, runner.

In fact, this is more the way I measure weight loss and improvement. I haven’t been on a scale in some time, but know enough about body fat to see that mine is on the decline. I wouldn’t be dropping times on runs like I am if I wasn’t losing, either, although conditioning is playing some part.

When I got home, I found a couple of pairs of pants Holly had gotten me about 8 years ago setting on my dresser. I’d never been able to fit into them and the tags were still on. I tried them both on and found that they were about a half an inch from feeling comfortable. I’d decided to hang onto them because I just couldn’t admit to myself that I was never again going to lose the weight I’d gained. The feeling I got from knowing I was close was almost as good as crushing my Clear Creek pr. Almost.

Run duration: 55 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 145.

Calories burned during workout: 950.