I think I caught a slight break with the worst of the heat being pushed out of here before my long run scheduled for tomorrow morning. On Wednesday, when temperatures were soaring into the low 100s and the heat index was topping 110, I stayed inside on the treadmill. Tomorrow morning, however, I want to stick to my plan and put in a 12 mile run, which I could never do on a treadmill (I max out at about 6 miles on the treadmill). It looks like I'll have temperatures in the 75-80 range with dewpoints in the low 70s, not ideal, but I can work with it. I'll be sure I'm hydrated tonight and I'll take a water break every 4 miles tomorrow. I was surfing the net for some hot weather running tips and saw a piece from Jeff Galloway on the Runner's World Magazine website where he suggests cutting back your pace about 30 seconds per mile for every 5 degrees over 60. For example, if I've been doing 8:30 miles on a nice weather day and tomorrow I'm running in 75 degree temperatures, that means I'm running in temperatures 15 degrees over 60, so I should cut my pace by three 30 sec. increments, or 90 seconds. That means I shouldn't feel bad if I end up doing 10 minute miles, especially for the last few miles of my run. That sounds about right to me since I'm not worried so much about my pace on these longer runs...I just want to get the miles in and train my body and mind to work for up to two hours. I'll let you know how it goes.

Tom Tasselmyer