Yeah, we are in the middle of that heat wave hitting the east coast and suffering through 90+ degree weather and high humidity. It is also July and yes, it is summer. It ain’t like we haven’t gotten warm weather, well hot weather before and will again. It ain’t like it isn’t unexpected.

Oh well, to hear the newspaper and TV reporters whine, gnash their teeth and all the hype and crap. You’d think we have never had this kind of weather before. The false shrilling of the crisis of the moment crowd gets old. Yes, you have to be somewhat intelligent about hot weather, just like you have to when it gets cold. I think we all realize that hot weather tends to happen in the summer and we deal with it, like we have for… well for as long as people have roamed the earth.

No, I didn’t attempt to run outside in this crap. I’m not stupid or have a death wish. At almost 69 years of age, extremes of temperatures, especially heat cause this old body to shut down and do strange things that I am not eager to repeat unnecessarily. When you are young, the margins for errors is a lot larger and I ain’t young anymore.

So, I headed inside to beat on a treadmill and push the body a little more than I have, in a nicely air conditioned gym and work up a sweat there. Instead of worrying about worrying about someone finding a little old man curled up in a ditch somewhere, asking them to stop his Timex’s timer.

I did long for me intervals and then when I got tired short intervals and ended up running 4.0/40:09. First time I’ve run 4.0 in a while and nothing hurt that shouldn’t.

• 5:00 minutes at 5.6
• 5:00 minutes at 6.2
• 5:00 minutes at 5.5
• 6:00 minutes at 6.2
• 3:00 minutes at 5.5
• 7:00 minutes at 6.2
• 1:00 minute at 5.5
• 1:00 minute at 6.3
• 1:00 minute at 5.5
• 1:00 minute at 6.4
• 1:00 minute at 5.5
• 1:00 minute at 6.5
• 1:00 minute at 5.5 – which put me right around 3.75 miles
• 0.15 at 6.6
• 0.10 at 6.7 – 4.0 miles – I gotta get back to measuring things by distance this time stuff doesn’t work for me.

Nothing spectacular, but a solid workout. I had wanted to do the 6.2 interval for 10:00, but that was a bit too much for where my fitness is currently, but the 5:00 minute plus long intervals felt strong and I wasn’t panting too hard at the end of each one. The 1:00 minute bursts felt strong and then the last quarter mile was a strong finish.

Now if I could loose some this weight that I’m dragging around, it would probably help the stamina quite a bit. However, that would mean changing how I eat and if I am honest that ain’t happening anytime soon. So I have to create a hotter fire on the inside and get the metabolism ramped up a bit more. Now to see if the body holds up to the harder efforts. I think it will as long as I give it enough rest after these harder pushes.

Another workout in the books and as I write this it is 93* and high humidity, so instead being my usual Harold Being Harold efforts, I stayed inside read a book, took a nap and relaxed this afternoon. See you can teach an old dawg new tricks.