I've never been a huge fan of running in warm weather, especially in the sun when there is no shade. The biggest issue is hydration, and with the weather we've had this past week there have been a few tough runs and my Salomon running pack has been seeing some action to make sure I have plenty of water on the longer jaunts. I managed a mid-week 20km on Thursday night, evening running is definitely a good way to avoid the worst of the heat and this ended up being a nice run, albeit at quite a steady pace.
The main event this week was Wimpole Parkrun (my 45th, only 5 to go before I get my 50-run shirt!). Since Parkruns are only 5km I'm going to need to try to beef them up a bit over the next few months. So, instead of jumping in the car (or on my bike, as I have done in the past) I headed out at 7:15am via country roads and trails to Wimpole.
A Strava map resembling a small rodent on a long umbilical cord!
It was a beautiful early summer morning, the sun was out and the temperature was already in the high teens, so I was fairly warm by the time I made it to Parkrun. Fortunately I was in enough time to have a brief rest before the run started, during that time the storm clouds blew in and by the time we started there was thunder rumbling in the distance. I suspect that a lot of the other runners were a bit annoyed that their Saturday morning 5km included a drenching, but I was very grateful for it! After a bite to eat and a refill of my water I set off home. The clouds hung around for about half of the journey back, which was fortunate because when the sun came back out it was baking and the last few kilometres were a real struggle in the heat! Overall I was satisfied with the run, and also made an important discovery that I can't really stomach Lucozade Sport after 3 hours of running, so will need to stick to water in my bottle from now on (I know this sounds insignificant, but it's very important for me to find out how to rehydrate and refuel during these longer runs).
The rest of the bank holiday has been pretty lazy, but I did manage a decent 10km loosener today to get rid of the aches in my quads following Saturday's exertions. I'm heading back to the Midlands this weekend and should be able to fit in one good long run - just have to decide where I'm going to go!
Finally, I'm now half way to my initial fundraising target of £500 and this is entirely due to the generosity of you, my friends and family. Thank you so much to those who have already made donations, and those who haven't are very welcome to join the club :)
Thanks for reading!
Stephen
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