Am i running slowly?

gillie80

Just a wee update. I changed my route this week to incorporate a few hills... killed it. I wasn't sure I'd get up them all without having to walk up at least 1 of them but with my personal trainer egging me on (my mum) I did it. Am now kind of addicted to that route lol. That's me now going onto week 8 of c210k and looking at a 28 minute run tomorrow. I can remember freaking out going into wk3 at having to run for 2.5 minutes lol. Funny how quickly you forget the struggles in the early weeks.

Sue I'll have a look at that article tonight. The few really warm days (I wont say hot) we've had where I've run weren't my best, even though I sought out shadey runs. I ran/walked a 10k in June on the hottest day of the Scottish year and while the experience gave me a great tan, the heat was quite draining.

Got my 1st 5k in 2 weeks. hoping to have met my 35 minute pace by then. eep.

dewd2

pondee629 wrote: »

"The guideline is to slow down 30 seconds per mile for every 5 degrees above 65F."

Just so I'm clear on this. My coach for training for my Half Marathon on September 25, has me running this Saturday 13 miles at a 12 minute mile pace. If, at 6 A.M. when I start, it already 75* my 12 minute mile pace becomes 13 minutes?

When it is super hot and humid I rely on heart rate only. I keep my long runs in high zone 2 or low zone 3 (based on my lactate threshold) and do not worry about pace. I see what I did after the run. I did this for 18 miles yesterday and survived. FWIW, my run yesterday was almost a minute per mile slower than the previous week (same distance).

Yesterday it was 77 degrees with 83% humidity. Last Sunday was 73 with 65% humidity. It may not seem like a big difference but believe me, it was HUGE.

dewd2

To the OP - Speed is relative. When I'm running I am either the fastest slow runner or the slowest fast runner. Either way, I am doing this for me and don't care if I finish 1st or 99th. You will always be slower than some and faster than others. The key is to enjoy the run and don't worry about how fast your are running.

Good luck.

SueInAz

dewd2 wrote: »

pondee629 wrote: »

"The guideline is to slow down 30 seconds per mile for every 5 degrees above 65F."

Just so I'm clear on this. My coach for training for my Half Marathon on September 25, has me running this Saturday 13 miles at a 12 minute mile pace. If, at 6 A.M. when I start, it already 75* my 12 minute mile pace becomes 13 minutes?

When it is super hot and humid I rely on heart rate only. I keep my long runs in high zone 2 or low zone 3 (based on my lactate threshold) and do not worry about pace. I see what I did after the run. I did this for 18 miles yesterday and survived. FWIW, my run yesterday was almost a minute per mile slower than the previous week (same distance).

Yesterday it was 77 degrees with 83% humidity. Last Sunday was 73 with 65% humidity. It may not seem like a big difference but believe me, it was HUGE.

Agreed! It was 78° and 45% humidity this morning. I averaged 10:49 where I've been lucky to average 11:30 at 82° and 83° with humidity above 70% lately. It's amazing how just a few degrees hotter and higher humidity can really slow you down.

niblue

dewd2 wrote: »

When it is super hot and humid I rely on heart rate only.

I do the same. I go to the Middle East on business occasionally and have done some runs out there in the summer when the temperature was over 40C during the day and while it dropped to the mid 30's C after dark the humidity was brutal. In the UK summer I was running 31-32 minute 5K's at the time but my first 5K over there was a real struggle and took me over 38 minutes. Eventually as I got used to it I got better but really struggled to get under 35 minutes so the heat and humidity was definitely having a big impact. I found run/walk intervals were actually faster than trying to run the whole thing.