Humidity Slows Me Down Dramatically

When I wrote the last post, I wasn't really expecting to be writing another for quite a while. And yet here I am once again bashing out yet another pile of words for your edification.

It really isn't so much that I have this sudden urge to write---it's more that time spent idley spent at home awaiting for the start of work has made me somewhat more restless than usual. Compound this with the 7-day ``chill out'' time from the theatrics of Facebook, I think that I would like to write more as a means of expression.

Anyway, just wasted two paragraphs on a silly start; time for the point of the post. I have been running on and off over the last four years, tracking statistics of the ``significant'' runs (basically runs that are somewhat serious in the sense that actual time an distance are recorded). I have some revelations on the state of my running that I would like to put down on paper so that I can remind myself in the future when I look at the numbers and charts again.

My running speed changes quite dramatically when I'm here in Singapore as compared to that of the US. For the same running distance, I run a good 12.5% faster when I'm in the US as compared to here. This difference goes up more dramatically when comparing to running indoors in the US versus running outdoors here---a whopping 25% difference. I suspect it has something to do with the humidity content more than anything else. Yes, the heat can be contributory to the overall discomfort felt when running, but considering that I was running in the early morning when the sun hasn't had the chance to heat things up yet, the only factor that is different is the level of humidity.

I signed up for another ten-kilometre race to occur in September. Based on the time left, I am starting to think that perhaps I'm a little optimistic in thinking that I can actually reach the 10km distance with a decent timing under such weather conditions. We'll just have to see how it goes. Instead of trying to run by distance, I'm re-starting with the whole run-by-duration scheme as a way for forcing my body to acclimatise to the humidity. I'll probably do that for about a month, running nearly five times a week, before I switch back to the race-training mode of going by distance.