Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke
I’m discovering just how difficult it is to maintain a consistent running pace. There are simply too many variables. My weight, for example, can fluctuate by several pounds from one day to another. Depending on where I fall within that range on a given morning, running can feel noticeably different. Then there is the weather. Those are why my running pace never seems consistent.
Summers here can be extremely hot and humid, which really affects my pace. That’s why I consistently run in the morning. Even then, summer mornings aren’t exactly cool. They’re simply less unreasonable than running later in the day.
Recently, I’d gained a few pounds again. After today’s run, I had dropped about three pounds and landed almost exactly in the middle of my target weight range. Excellent. Unfortunately, my running pace didn’t cooperate. I missed my target again.
That’s the frustrating part. Between changes in temperature, humidity, weight, and how my body feels that morning, my running results can be much more inconsistent than I’d like. It makes improvement difficult to see.
I may actually be getting faster and stronger over time, but when the conditions change constantly, comparing today’s run with yesterday’s isn’t always particularly useful. There isn’t much I can do about that except continue training and schedule my runs as carefully as possible. And wait for fall.
Once cooler weather finally arrives, at least I’ll be able to remove one variable from the experiment. Then we’ll find out whether the problem was really the weather, or whether my legs have been using it as an excuse all summer.