It was a hot and humid day - feels like 93F, 88% humidity, cloudy with 3 hours away from thunderstorm. Had a decent afternoon and then went off running at 2pm. I adjusted my running posture a little bit today, and perhaps from good amount of swimming in the past few days, I was still feeling great in the first 2K despite the heat and humidity. I actually felt a little surprised as I don't do well running in the heat, but maybe the new posture helps, I did feel like I had more energy.
Then rain started to come down hard, to the point of almost a downpour. It wasn't supposed to start until 5pm, so I had to run for cover. Stood under the underpass until it got better but as soon as I start, it felt like 100F and 100% humidity! It was a tough 1K, and I felt a little dehydrated and fatigued.
I pushed my best for another 1K, with my heart rate going up to high intensity zone and loss too much fluid, I had to stop to get some water. In the last 1K I decided to not push to the point of being dehydrated again. To my surprise, I finished strong comparing to my own PB, by 1'40"! I looked at my pace in both mi and K, that my last mile was 8'06"/mi and my 4th K was 4'48"/km. I know it's not a competitive time at all, but racing myself this record was better than the one I had when I was running more regularly 5 years ago. I thought I would just run slower with age, and after not running for a long time and having a kid, I was a lazy self who didn't want to exercise, had poor choice in my diet, and almost at the verge of hitting the high end of the normal BMI range. When I finally got back to running, my pace was barely 10'00"/mi or 6'12"/km.
I would not have imagined doing a 5K under 9'00"/mi or 5'35"/km pace. I think choosing the right training and diets, and with tenacity and consistency, age is just a number.
Keep running and keep training!
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