What a difference a day makes.......

   Even given the circumstances, Sunday's 10 miler was so confidence deflating that I decided to extend the planned 8 back up to 10 and "get back on the horse" so to speak.   So it was back to the canal.  No hills, no stiles, no streams to jump across, no stony trail, no overgrown pathways, no traffic.  10 rhythmical miles with just a couple of road intersections to be aware of.
   But no "it was a hot one....." this Tuesday morning however.  Case of "What a difference a day makes..."
as a very cool and forceful north easterly made the outward 5 less than comfortable.  At least the towpath was all but deserted with no weekend bikers hurtling by without warning or large dog walking families.  I did have the sunglasses on however, but with a yellow lens in just to keep the flies etc. out of the eyes.   The white cloud firmly keeping out the sun today as the temperature plummetted by over 10 degrees.
  A look at the excel sheet for last year's training showed that this week last year I had run this same route in
splits of 44.07 and 42.05 for 86.22.   So it was a case of seeing how Tuesday's effort would compare.
I turned just slightly slower in 44.44 the wind being a factor but returned slightly faster in 42.01 for 86.45.
9 minutes faster than Sunday!  The canal run served to prove that normal service has been resumed to a large extent  and certainly boosted the confidence.  All being well I'll do a track session before the weekend and race on Monday hoping for a performance not too distant from last year's.  
 I wrote yesterday that a couple of drivers had slowed down on Sunday and made reference to the lunacy of running in such temperatures and I had replied it has to be done if we race in high temperatures.  I can't ever recall not racing because of the heat and in fact have often said I love that warmth on my back.  
 The most memorable race for heat was the 2000 FRECKLETON half marathon.  Two previous 1/2s that year had been 79.23 (Barcelona) and 79.44 (Doncaster). I was 51 running with Bingley at the time.  I recall saying before the race I was looking for a similar time.  But with a 2 p.m. start and temperatures in the mid 30s  the event took it's toll.  Times went out the window as survival became the order of the day.  I was ten minutes down rnning 89.08; but at least I ran all the way,  the winner Darren Hale of Salford Hrs. had apparently walked and jogged the last 3 miles  but was so far ahead he managed to hold on recording probably the slowest winning time on record of 75.05.  Ron Hill's record of 64.45 set in 1969 still stands to this day. The Freckleton is one of many races on flat fast courses which "sells out" well before the closing date; this year being no exception.