A Tale Of 2 Runs...

It's funny how almost the exact same run/distance on consecutive days can feel so differently. This happened to me this weekend when I did my back to back long runs, but I blame the weather...mostly.

I ran 22 miles this past Saturday. The short of it: I struggled...big time. We started at 5am, but it was really humid. I kept looking for the breeze that never came. Plus, my friends started a little faster than I am used to. Judging from their pace I could tell it was going to be a long (pun intended) morning and we were.

Despite of the crappy run, I felt really good and rested the rest of the day. Definitely, a good sign since I was planning on running 20 the next morning.

Sunday was a different story. It was mild ~ almost cold. I even considered a long sleeve shirt for a second...just for a second before I decided to enjoy the morning coolness in a short sleeve shirt. We ran 20 miles, and it was cool the entire morning. There was almost no humidity, and, at times, when the breeze hit me, I even got cold. It was such a different morning run that we finished almost the same distance in almost an hour less time.

Yep, the weather'll make or break my runs.

I'd classify my performances during the majority of the running/racing I did this summer as pretty lousy, and I blame the heat. I've decided that, perhaps, I'm just not cut out for summer heat running, but I live in South Texas, so what can I do about it?

I've done 2 long runs in mild or cooler weather very recently. Today's run of 20 miles and last week's run of 34 miles. I felt great during these 2 runs. No issues at all. None. I changed nothing ~ did everything the same I did during the summer. According to my unscientific experiment, it must be the heat.

Of course, the bad thing about this is that I will be expecting more from myself, now that the weather will be better. More pressure...