Beaten by Hundreths of a Second!

The plan was to log in a mid-week long run - a very successful add-on to the usual Sunday ones. However, the twist. I was to do 8:00 (6:09 pace) laps, at least the first few laps until I was warmed up. I wasn't far off from the initial pace the first 3 laps and the weather was fine with a bit of cloud cover.

Unfortunately, the sun turned up its power from the 4th lap and it was blazing hot, really hot. Dry and hot. I had to consciously maintain my focus on the breathing just to keep my pace going and heart rate even. Even so, a glance at the watch showed that a 10-lap PR is possible, if I keep reducing the pace consistently.

The heat sapped up my energy like a sponge and in my haste to wrap up the run, I surged too fast too soon at the 6th lap. I should have waited until the 7th and I wilted under the heat. I tried as I may but I could force the pace under 7:22 (you can see that I hit 7:22 on 3 laps - the first time I managed the same lap times for three times ever!).

It became a really close call as I gritted my way through the final lap and looked at my watch. You can see the results for yourself.

The Lap times:
8:09 > 8:04 > 8:02 > 7:55 > 7:47 > 7:22 > 7:17 > 7:22 > 7:22 > 7:05
Total: 1:16:27 - Mar 16th 2005
Average: 7:38 equivalent to 5:53 pace

Still standing PR - 1:16:08 - Nov 3rd 2004