bad air, bad attitude

Man, this blog is swirling down and down.  Sorry.  I have cabin fever and a deep set dislike of this place that is tunnelling steadily deeper.  I was outside for about a half hour this morning, watering valiant plants and feeding the fish and the dog (he is enjoying his breakfasts al fresco these days), and the air felt thick and dirty even then.   Now it's 37C and still rising, the humidex is somewhere around 40, and the temps will be like this for the next 10 days, and I seem to have lost my appetite.  Fortunately, I have protein and iron supplements.  LOL

I got onto the treadmill and, since my breathing is already slightly uncomfortable, I managed to find an "easy" pace at about 6.2 mph after warming up.  It wasn't going to be any easier, and actually this pace is approaching one of my mechanically easier paces, about 8:15/mile outside.   I bumped the TM up to almost tempo pace, at 6.4ish mph, and held that for 20+ minutes until my breathing started to feel too constricted, although I was still breathing at a relaxed rate and feeling mechanically super smooth.  Then I dropped back to about 6.0 mph and tried to loosen up and shove down the slight panic that lurks beneath constrained breath.  No, I didn't lose control of it!  I'm not sure flirting with this margin is healthy, and I'm still feeling the effects (drinking hot tea seems to be helping).  If it gets above 40C, and it might, I may go outside because that tends to open up my lungs and make me feel better too.

Total run in one hour: 6.06 miles.   This run felt similar to a marathon-pace run, and it was kind of fun because it was mechanically easier than slower paces, and seeing the numbers go by a bit quicker was a psychological lift.   It's probably not beneficial to run at this sort of pace all of the time, but once a week should be fine.    Maybe it could count as one of those slower and longer tempo runs.  At this (low) point in my training, any hour-long run is better than none, and I got over the lazy Sunday hump that has been cropping up recently.