Heat advisory? No sweat!

A little thing like a heat advisory didn’t stop me from heading out for a 9.39-mile run on Saturday morning. I got out the door around 9 a.m., but it was already starting to warm up. By the final couple of miles, the combination of heat, beating sun, and radiating pavement had me absolutely cooked. I finished the run in exactly 1:20, averaging an 8:31 pace. From a cardio and leg effort standpoint, it felt pretty easy—but the heat had my heart rate creeping into the 170s by the end.

Scrolling through my training log afterward, I realized that this was actually my longest continuous run since November 2022. You’d think that would be enough running for one day... but being the glutton for punishment that I am, I decided to head back out in the evening for a few more miles—this time with my daughter.

We drove to a nearby XC course that’s known for its hills and logged an additional 3.01 miles at an 8:25 pace. The sun was starting to set, which made it more manageable, but it was still hotter than ideal. We wrapped up the outing with some well-earned Mexican ice cream.

After taking Sunday off, I woke up this morning to Garmin advising me to take another rest day. Two days off in a row? Not happening. So I laced up again and ran 4.10 miles at an 8:45 pace. I aimed to keep my heart rate under 140 and mostly succeeded—until the final mile when the heat started to catch up with me again (yep, heat advisory still in effect). Garmin now says I’ve got 61 hours of recovery time ahead of me. Hopefully a solid night’s sleep will help chip away at that.

On a positive note, I'm achieving things I haven't in years—which feels incredibly rewarding. But now comes the tricky part: making sure I don't overdo it and burn out. At the same time, I can’t afford to take too many days off and risk losing the consistency I’ve worked so hard to build. I’ve spent too long just treading water, and now that I’m finally moving forward, I don’t want to slip back into that rut. It’s a balancing act, and I’m learning to walk the line.