Yesterday

I forgot to update.
Yesterday's run was very mellow. It was hot (26C) and somewhat humid and mostly sunny, but I kept things easy and loose and it was fine. I think I did the right thing this summer: put away the Garmin, along with any expectations of pace on easy runs. Yes, some of my easy runs are really more like recovery runs, and sometimes my 'recovery' runs end up being longer and faster in the end, but as long as I continue to go with what honestly feels good and easy with these types of runs, I don't think I can go too wrong.

In fact, I think it has helped me a lot that I've kept the effort quite low...how low? There are often times when I find myself not breathing in rhythm because I don't require that much air. I have briefly skimmed a few articles about Maffetone training and so forth, and it could be that that's what I have going on. However, I think the main benefit simply comes from not pushing myself too much all the time. Last summer, I had ideas of pace for pretty much all my runs, and while I let myself get slower, it probably wasn't enough, and so I was working too hard. Admittedly, I can't blame myself completely: when the temp is above 30, as it often was, it's hard to tell between what's not-so-easy and what's easy because the latter doesn't really exist anymore. By the time it finally got cooler, I was tired, and my fall marathon didn't go as well as planned, although that was partly due to the meal I had the night before.

Anyway, I guess I've been trying to tap into this mellow easy cruising sort of thing since Ottawa race weekend, and I've noticed two things. My easy mellow cruising pace seems to have gotten a bit faster. Not sure how much, but I noticed a few times that I got to certain landmarks a bit more quickly. Not by much, though, and if I start obsessing over it, I'll leave my watch at home, but I seem to be running with less effort at least. And, secondly, I'm more comfortable in hotter weather.

Yesterday, for instance, the humidex was 30 or so, but I needed only three water stops in a 2-ish hr run, and I didn't feel hot. Mind you, I was going very slow, but I stopped only for traffic lights and those 3 water fountains. I was in a zone and didn't notice that it was 'hot'. I felt fine. It could have been 10 degrees cooler. I guess all those long-long runs in hot weather have paid off. Hopefully I can get in a few more, and then reap the rewards when it cools off in the fall. That's a wonderful feeling, running along without umpteen % of my blood diverted from my legs to dermal cooling.


OK, today's jog with the dog, 3.5 miles. There was some walking in that too, I confess. Plus, we went to a park to meet other dogs at one point. He really wanted to play, and did a little, but I'm still hesitant about letting him off-leash. Sometimes when there's only one dog in there, one that he's not interested in, we practice stay-come off-leash. Eventually, I guess, we'll practice with more and more distractions. He's a pro in the house, but he's also very easily distracted. The dog he wanted especially to play with was a young female. My dog is fixed but he's still interested in girls. LOL