Today I chose to do a route I find hard on a good day with no extra weight and cooler weather. At about a mile, a big steep hill that lasts for half a mile looms before you. I managed the whole thing without stopping and even managed to carry on to 3 miles without any walk breaks at all. It was just after this that I really felt knackered in the heart and lung department, so had to have a walk break in the 19 degree heat. Now, this is nothing for most people... but 19 degree heat is pretty unbearable for me.
I pulled myself together at about 3.5 miles and as the breeze cooled me down, managed to run to the bottom of the half mile hill that sits a mile away from home. Now this hill wiped me out, and I ran/walked it. My only saving grace is that I ran the running parts quicker than usual and then with about 100 metres to go to the top I ran the rest of the way home, picking up the pace for the last 320 metres to 7.36 minute mileing.
I'm not seeing this all as a failure though. These are all routes I find very difficult anyway, so the fact that I'm digging in and doing my best makes me confident I will make improvements really quickly. I'm getting my body to do something rather alien by pushing my HR this high. Incidentally, I got a new HR Max of 185 today, and actually ran this route around 1.5 minutes faster than I normally run a flatter route. It's all good.
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