Bringin’ the Heat…er Cold
Wow! Flip the calendar to August and the heat from the 2nd hottest month on record in Minnesota is gone. The 90′s have been replaced with the 70′s for daytime highs. The mornings have seen the steamy, humid 70′s replaced by the upper-50′s. How much does this temperature change impact running times? According to running guru Jeff Galloway, he suggests to “slow down by 30 sec a mile for every 5 degree temperature increase above 60F.” So, let’s do a little math here. By cooling down just 10F, I should speed up about a minute/mile. On my July 22nd run, I did 16 miles at an 8:39/mile pace. Suddenly, 10 degrees cooler would bring those times down to just over my marathon race pace. Want more proof? Check out the raw data from this weekend’s two runs:
Yesterday’s Workout-
Distance: 6 miles
Time: 43:10 (7:11/mile)
Yesterday’s run was a pace run. As such, I’m supposed to be running it at my marathon race pace. Earlier this year, I qualified for Boston by running 7:24/mile at the Fargo Marathon. I hope to improve on that time at this fall’s Twin Cities Marathon. To go sub-3 hours, I would need to be at 6:54/mile. I don’t know that that’ll happen, but by continuing to go 7:11/mile means I should be able to shave off several minutes to start approaching that goal.
Today’s Workout-
Distance: 12 miles
Time: 1:38:55 (8:14/mile)
My workout today was just your basic mileage workout. Having blasted my legs on the treadmill mountain marathon on Thursday and in yesterday’s pace workout, I just ran at a comfortable pace. Today’s comfortable pace was 25 seconds/mile faster than that July 22nd workout. See what I mean about the difference the temperature makes?!?! I felt comfortable the whole time, didn’t mentally fight it and really enjoyed my run more than any run I had in July.
Though I don’t want winter to make an early appearance in a place that gets its fair share of cold and snow, I can handle another few months of these kinds of temperatures. Nature’s air conditioning is awesome. Bring it!
Tomorrow’s Workout-
Optional 3 miles
+
90 minute soccer match
‘…I just ran at a comfortable pace.’ At 8:14/mile?!?!?! I would be dead. You sure have come a long way. And, I don’t say it often enough but I am so proud of you. I continue to be more and more impressed. xoxo