October 12, 2023 - Weather Frustrations

Today, I am supposed to run a 15 kilometer marathon pace tempo run in my training for CIM. Today, the weather is forecast to be very high humidity with a high of 94 and low of 81. Today, I don't know what to do about my training. Today is October 12th. 

Even in South Florida, where to live here one must accept (or even enjoy, as is the case for me) long stretches of hot and humid weather, 94 degrees with high humidity in mid October is highly unusual. That is 11 degrees over the daily average high for today, a giant number in a place where temperatures are generally very predictable. 83 degrees with a stiff dew point would make for a tough challenging run at marathon pace for 15 kilometers, but also a manageable run. The same is not true in 94 degree heat and high humidity.

And I am at a loss. I have yet to have the opportunity to do any extended running at marathon pace is decent weather in my CIM training. I expected that in July, August, and September. I expected to have windows of acceptable weather by mid October, and to flex my training schedule some to get some of the harder runs into those weather windows. That hasn't happened and CIM is looming, with the training weeks just whipping past.

I don't know how to approach my run today. Conventional wisdom would say adjust the pace for the weather. The overall stress and training impact will be approximately the same despite running a slower pace. And that has been my plan of action so far. But I'm trying to run CIM at a pace that is unfamiliar to me. In addition to needing to build the aerobic capacity and aerobic strength for the pace, I also need to develop the muscle memory and movement patterns of moving at that pace. While a pace adjusted for the weather may build the aerobic parts properly, that adjusted pace is not going to help develop the movement patterns. Developing those movement patterns requires actually moving in the intended manner.

So, I'm baffled. With only seven weeks of training left after this week, it feels like the opportunities to develop the movement patterns are quickly slipping by. I know I can't run 15 kilometers at marathon pace this afternoon. Or, perhaps I can, but that will then harm my training for a good long while afterward, which definitely isn't beneficial. My thought right now is to kind of split the difference, lower my pace to hit the correct aerobic stress level, but throw in some regular half mile or full mile sections at actual target marathon pace. Perhaps a half mile on, mile off kind of thing. I'm not sure that works. I'm not sure that's a good alternative. But it's where my thinking is this morning as I consider my run for this evening. I suppose this is where having a coach might be helpful.

C'mon, South Florida! Give us some of our "Not Fall, But Also Not Middle Of Summer" weather already!