Sunday 14 July 2013

Running 3 x 10 miles in the heat

Monday 08-July-2013 – The day was very hot when I started my run, I made sure I was hydrated throughout the day which helped. The goal was not to get any personal bests, but to complete the mileage. The air felt very dry and I had to keep on taking a sip of water every so often, the downside to that was that it was making me feel a bit bloated and sick.

I was keeping to a steady pace and listening to the music on my iPod to pass the time away and at times running to the beat when the tempo was right. I got to around 3 miles along the canal and saw a guy sat on a deckchair reading his paper opposite his barge, next to him was a big black dog asleep. I approached giving the dog as much of a wide berth as possible, but as soon as I got close he woke up looked around at me and let off a couple of deep barks. I am sure I lost a couple of pounds in weight at that point in time and thought if he bites it going to be messy. I don’t normally have any problems with running by dogs, sometimes they run along with me thinking it’s a game. Anyway the owner called his name and the dog settled down quickly, I suppose I must have startled him a bit.
I tried to run as much as I could in the shade that tall bushes and trees were giving and there was a breeze as well, it did not feel as hot as it actually was which is the ideal time you end up getting sun burnt.

Generally the run went fairly well, but during the evening at home I felt really washed out. I drank a couple of pints of squash and was weeing light yellow so I knew I was hydrated. The following day I felt okay apart from the usual aches in the legs while recovering.




Wednesday 10-July-2013 – It was cloudy with not a patch of blue in the sky, but it was still warm and more of a stuffy heat along with a slight breeze. I started off at my usual pace and found that after a couple of miles my left knee was aching, I carried on through the ache but had to stop for a wee. I think I must have drank too much during the day. I got back in to the run and my knee was still aching for another mile when the ache disappeared.

I got up the hill heading in to Market Bosworth and had to drop down in to a walk, the hill just blew me out for a bit. I got through the square at Market Bosworth and found it to be extra busy today with people using up the complete path, they were just standing there talking which forces you in to the road with on coming cars.

I made my way from Market Bosworth down a single track road, the farmers were out in the fields in their tractors which seemed a bit strange as it is normally very quiet along this road with the occasional car or van passing me. This road is slightly downhill so I try to up the pace and slow the breathing down for the length of the road. My right knee started to ache now with some sharp pains shooting around it, I tried to bring my leg up bending the knee more and found this seemed to help a bit. I walked up the next hill as I was tired after the faster pace that I had been running and also did not want to upset the knee any more.

I ran across 3 fields where there were a couple of tractors out causing a fair amount of dust, I managed to get through the fields as quick as I could which blew me out. I walked past the Bosworth Battlefield Centre and headed of in to Ambion wood and then down along the canal. As soon as I got off the canal path to cross a bridge I had to drop back down into a walk and have a sip of water. I picked up the pace into a run and ran though Shenton station and along a track up a couple of short hills and past the Bosworth Battlefield Centre again and finally into Ambion wood. By the time I reached the gate where I start and finish I was absolutely knackered, I just did not have anything else left in me.

I managed to do some personal bests:
1 hour – 6.59 Miles (10.62km)
10k – 56m: 14s





Friday 12-July-2013 – It was a very hot day and I found myself sweating while putting my running kit on and wondering if this really is a good idea going out and doing a 10 miler. I had been drinking all morning to keep hydrated and made sure I took plenty of fluids with me.

I set off and tried to keep the pace slow but looked at the Garmin and noticed that I was going at my normal pace, so I thought I will just keep it at the normal pace if that is what I am comfortable with. By the time I had run through Ambion wood and reached the canal I felt quite tired, I felt very hot and just could not get my breathing sorted out, I felt like I was panting while running. I nearly turned back to call it 2 miles, but decided to carry on.

I was trying to find as much shade to run in to keep out of the direct sun which was very hot, this did seem to help a bit but most of the time I was in the direct sunlight which was just sapping my energy. I felt like I had lead boots on, I wanted to stop and turn back but something in me was keeping me running.

I walked up all the hills as I did not want to blow myself out and have to walk the rest of the way. This did seem to help, but it was so hot and tiring even walking up the hills. I found that I had to keep on sipping on water but this was bloating me out and making me feel a bit sick, I thought marvellous I just can’t win.

By the time I finished the run I felt happy that it was all over but also happy that I achieved 10 miles in the hot sun. When I sat down I started to sweat a lot and I was taking on loads of water as I felt a bit dehydrated. According to the Endomondo stats I had sweated 2.81 litres, I cannot really believe that as that is a lot of fluid to lose.


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