It's summer. Yes it is.

I have to admit that last night's run and this morning's run didn't feel so bad.  They weren't my favorite runs ever, but they also were not as terrible as I remembered running in Florida during the summer.  Some part of me was hoping that I had magically adapted over the years or that I was stronger as a runner and that was paying off.  Then came tonight's run and I realized that none of this was true.

Instead of completing a full five-mile run today, I decided that it made more sense to chop it up into two parts.  Chopping up longer runs into parts is an okay thing to do during training, particularly when you are trying to get adapted to heat.  I also stuck with my plan from yesterday where I ran for four minutes and walked for one.  Each mile was estimated at about 10 minutes, so for every mile I was supposed to run, I would run 4, walk 1, run 4, then walk 1.  In other words, a 5-mile run became fifty minutes of walk/run and today, I chopped that into one 30-minute segment and one 20-minute one.

Overall, I think that this is the better plan from 'just go and run and eventually you will adapt even if the first little while is akin to torture.'  I tried that method last summer and I think that the most debilitating part is that it has kept me from running when it is hot.  All that I remember is how awful I felt after many runs last year and I don't want to have that feeling again.  Instead of going out, I find ways of putting off running to avoid the heat (see: this blog from February - April).  The chopping it into intervals with walking makes running more manageable in tricky conditions.

That being said, I was reminded tonight that even these easy runs can become hard when it is hot.  It took all of my concentration to power through the last interval--bearing in mind that this was the last 5 minutes of a 20-minute run total, whereas just last week, I was powering through 5 miles like it was nobody's business.  I did manage to stay in the shade because it would have been even worse in the sun.  It's too bad in a way that the previous two runs were a bit deceptive in their conditions, making them seem less challenging because somehow this made tonight feel even worse.  This morning, for instance, the humidity was only at 85%--if you can imagine--instead of the normal 98% or so.  But at least I've found a way to cope. 

It also helps to remember that there are only three more runs to go until I will be in more amenable conditions.