Bad Idea: a Hot, Hot, Hot Long Run

This weekend was hot! Okay, that's not much of a revelation to anyone (yours truly included) but it didn't make it any easier to cope with the high temps. After a dismal 4-mile race on Saturday (nearly 2 minutes off my PR) I tried to log some extra miles with teammates in the hopes that I could get my long run out of the way. Unfortunately, that plan proved to be a bit too ambitious and I called it quits after 5 extra miles. That meant Sunday was long run day.

The Shelter Pavilion

I need one day a week to sleep in and thanks to my race Saturday wasn't that day. That meant that instead of getting a jump on my Sunday run I let myself lay in bed until 9am. By the time I was ready to head out the door it was almost 10am. In the winter starting a run a little later can be a good thing, but in the summer it's asking for trouble. Almost immediately I could feel the heat sapping me of energy.

I had a great course planned, along the East River, then over to Randall's Island to take the Triboro Bridge to Queens. In Queens I ran along the water heading south to the Pulaski Bridge. This first half of my run was very much familiar territory--I've done that route at least a dozen times before--but it was a struggle. I kept drinking water but I also felt parched.

As I made my way into Brooklyn my spirits picked up a little. There I'd plotted a new course that took me by the Newton Creek waste water treatment plant (cooler looking than it sounds) and McGolrick Park--a beautiful spot with several monuments and the landmarked classical Shelter Pavilion.* That was definitely the highlight of the run. After that, it felt more like a death march to the finish.

For the final miles I followed part of the New York City marathon course in reverse (which reminds me--I will have a bit of news for you readers later this week) before making a slight detour to finish at one of my favorite places: Bergen Bagels. The everything bagel I got made the subway ride home tolerable but I was wiped out. The moral of the story? Start your long runs early! An afternoon nap and an earlier start would have been a lot better than running in that heat!
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* The park also had a surprisingly large farmers market that runs through November. I'm definitely going to try and come check it out sometime when I'm not running and can actually carry some gooseberries home.