I am in Carlsbad, NM since yesterday. Despite travelling for work, I try to stick to my training schedule for my upcoming races. Today asked for a speed workout... Ok, here comes the first modification to the program... There's no track available... Well, I figured I go for a longer easy run. The 'easy' run turned out to be pretty tough. It was scorching hot all day, and even at 7pm, half an hour before sunset, the thermometer still showed 92F. I headed out anyway, taking a bottle of water, which I would not have done for a 5 mile run in the Bay Area. I ran along the road through the 'Living Desert' State Park, which is essentially right outside the place I stay at. The road climbs a hill for the first mile, then drops of a little and finally flattens out on a dirt road. The climb turned out to be quite a challenge in the heat, it also didn't help that Carlsbad is at 3500ft. I was looking forward to the downhill on the way back. I had planned to run a 8:40 - 8:50 pace which I realized was not achievable on the first section...
I turned around after two miles, and I saw a lightening storm on the horizon. During the next few minutes I also felt a distinct temperature drop and the wind picking up. Unfortunately it turned out to be a headwind. Half way through the way back to my house it started pouring down on me... the rain and teh headwind made sure that the downhill part was no faster than running up the same hill. Easy is definitely the wrong category for the run... anyway...4 miles, 9:29 pace at a super high heart rate...(Avg: 169, max 180) was a first running experience in the desert, I hope it will be better in the next days.
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