The Heat Continues

It's been 25 days since it didn't reach at least 80 degrees....and 6 straight days in the 90's....with a forecast showing 90's for the next 10 days (this is as far out as the forecast goes!).

I've had enough! Even though I do the majority of my workouts early in the morning, it's still in the high 70's with enough humidity to make a sauna jealous. No matter what I'm wearing, it's going to be drenched in sweat about 30 minutes into my workout. Then it sits in my hot car all day...anyone know where I can buy air fresheners in bulk??

The biggest issue that I have with the heat is staying hydrated, especially on long runs. On the bike, I can pack up to 48 ounces of water and/or Gatorade. I don't have this luxury when running. I've tried running while carrying a bottle, but it doesn't work too well. A friend of mine (check out his blog here) recently suggested that I try using NUUN. It's a tablet that you drop into water to create an electrolyte drink without all the sugar of a Gatorade.

James was kind enough to give me a tube of tablets last week. I used NUUN during my race last weekend and drank another water bottle mixed with it before my run this morning. I'm not really sure if it's having a positive effect on my performance, but I haven't felt dehydrated yet when using it. I'll keep trying it on these hot days, after all, it can't hurt!

MONDAY'S WORKOUT:

Bike

2h5m on the indoor bike. Being the day after the Back to Health Triathlon (heat made it feel like the Back to HELL Triathlon), I just wanted to see how my legs felt. I did a 30 minute warm-up at easy pace, then worked pretty hard throughout the 45 minute spin class, then finished up with 50 more minutes in zone 2. Surprisingly, my legs felt pretty good.

YESTERDAY'S WORKOUT:

Run

After a pretty good bike workout on Monday, I was ready to do some 1 mile intervals. The run over to the track felt pretty good, but once I started trying to run hard and fast...I knew I was in trouble. My legs just wouldn't respond. My heart rate wasn't very high (about 10 beats slower than it should have been for an all-out effort), but I just didn't have the leg strength to run fast enough. So after only two very slow intervals, I decided to call it a day and jogged back to the gym at hit the pool. Here's the workout:
Warm-up - 11:13 (HR = 135 bpm) 1.37 miles (8:11 min/mile pace)
1) 7:09 (HR = 152)
2) 7:28 (HR = 152)
Cool-down - 10:51 (149) 1.37 miles (7:55 min/mile pace)
Total workout - 4.74 miles in 45:43

Swim

5 minutes of warm-up and drills
1/2 mile (888 yd) swim at race pace (17:00)
Total workout: 1152yd in 22:51 (34:54 min/mile pace)

TODAY'S WORKOUT:

Run

I was a little nervous about how my legs would respond only 24 hours after they told me to shove it when I tried to do some sprints. I wanted to get in a long run, but I didn't want to fatigue my body anymore if it was still in recovery mode. For this reason, I started out my run at an easy pace and then once I reached the half-way point, I decided that I felt good enough to increase the speed on the way back. Here's my pace chart from RunKeeper for today's run:

The 5.45 miles on the way out took me 44:50 (8:13 min/mile pace) and as you can see, it included a big down-hill run. The return leg (which required going up that same hill) only took me 42:54 (7:52 min/mile pace). My legs felt good, so I pushed it the last few miles. The legs will definitely enjoy tomorrow's day off!
Total workout: 10.90 miles in 1:27:43 (8:02 min/mile pace).