Happy Wednesday and welcome to another Running Coaches’ Corner! This week, we’re finishing up our series about summer lovin’, where we talk about everything you need to know about training and running in the summer months. Who’s we? That’s yours truly, Debbie, Susie and Rachel! Make sure to check out their blogs for some great posts about summer running, too. 
Last night I had one of my most terrible training runs of this training cycle. On the schedule: 800m w/u followed by 10x800m with 400m slow jog in between and 800 c/d for a total of 8.5 miles.
So, it was a fun adventure. Went to the track I’ve been running, which was randomly closed, so I opted to do it on the streets around my house. I felt like my head wasn’t into it, and the weather looked like this:
Old me, the runner BEFORE this training cycle, would have quit and ended the workout. Instead I pushed through and ended up with some splits that I’m not the happiest about:
3:46
3:41
3:35
3:43
3:51
3:48
3:47
3:58
3:54
4:14
See, the point of Yassos is that you can take the average of the times for your 800m and it will end up predicting your marathon time. This is currently predicting that I’m going to run a 3:49 marathon.
So not in line with my sub-3:30 goal.
I’m not taking it to heart, but instead, using this bump in the road as fuel to make the next few weeks the best training and taper ever so this sub-3:30 can become a reality.
In all, it was a good lesson on how to conquer summer speed workouts. After all, I learned a lot of what NOT to do from my disaster of a workout.
For one, check the weather and plan around it. If I would have thought a little bit smarter about this workout and doing 8.5 miles at night, when it’s starting to get ridiculously hot down here, I probably would have opted for a morning run to give my body a better chance to perform well.
Secondly, find a reliable track. Here in Austin, most middle schools will let you use their track after school hours, along with some high schools. Knowing where you can go (especially when school is out) can make the biggest difference in the world. Make sure you know this so you don’t waste 45 minutes trying to find where you should run.
I think it’s also important to get your pace in check. Yeah, I had a goal to prove that I’m right around that 3:30 mark with tonight’s workouts and it totally didn’t happen. But, I probably pushed it too hard on the first few instead of spreading my effort across all of them, meaning that my energy levels just tanked when it came to the last couple.
Find a summer speed workout that fits your training and the weather. Instead of doing two-mile repeats, think about going shorter with a little longer recovery. Try a ladder workout. Or, do something different where your recovery is walking lunges for a 100m so your heart rate can slow down.
And lastly, fuel and hydrate appropriately. When you’re running in the heat, give your body breaks so that it can cool down and make sure these breaks include enough water for you to hydrate. Summer speed workouts generally require a LOT of energy from your body and you want to make sure that it can handle what you’re throwing at it.
Just because it’s hot doesn’t mean you can’t hit the track and conquer your speed. But, as I learned last night, doing it the right way can make all the difference in the world.
An InLinkz Link-up
Summer speed workouts: Yay or nay?
How do you keep your tough workouts alive in hot weather?