Monday, July 15, 2013

7/15/13: Night versus Day *OR* Sweating it Out

I did the following run last night, but was much too sleepy afterward to put together a readable blog entry.

Start time:  ~ 9:10 PM
End Time:  ~9:50 PM
Distance:  4.56 miles 
Time:  38:42 
Pace:  8:29 min/mile 

It was only my second night run of the summer, and I was able to get some great pictures of the post-rainstorm Lexington skyline. 







And this morning's run:  

Start time:  ~ 6:10 AM 
Finish time: ~ 7:10 AM
Distance: 5.65 miles 
Time:  59:14 
Pace:  10:29 min/mile  

Lexington has been a wet, soggy, humid mess for most of the month of July. Most evenings, even after the sun has gone down, have felt too sticky to brave more than a scant few miles.  So when I was finished last night's run, almost literally pouring sweat, I told myself that it was my last evening run until the fall.  

Then I compared last night's pace to this morning's pace.  

Holy cow!  How did I manage to go so much faster last night?   

Obviously there are extenuating factors to think of, here: 
 - Yesterday, I had a full days worth of fuel in my stomach to run on 
 - This morning, I had only recovered for around 6 hours before trying another run 
 - I hit the snooze too many times this morning and got off to a late start. 
 - Last night's distance was considerably shorter 

But, then again, it was about 10 degrees warmer last night than this morning, no to mention the added humidity of the passing rain.  So what made the big difference?  I'm not sure, but I'm definitely going to try a few more evening runs to figure it out!  Stay tuned for the (sort of) scientific results!  

If you're having trouble running in humidity, check out this article from Runnersworld.com about those sticky summer days!  


Total July Miles:  37.95 

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