They've managed to fix the air conditioning in Wandsworth just so another part can fail. This time we're told it will be fixed on Tuesday (tomorrow). We'll see. Claire complained about the recent high temperature and the management have been kind enough to give us September free. Let's hope we can make good use of the gym in September then.
By the time I'd made 2.5 miles today my heart beat was heading over 180 so I reduced to a walk. I had a little burst of 4 minutes at 10.6kph and then reduced to a walk again to make up the 4 miles in 44 minutes. The t6 says I reached level 4 training effect after 27:30 so it wasn't too bad a session.

I'd been dreading this run today. How could I possibly make 7 miles when I've struggled so much with the shorter distances recently? How was I going to make 7 miles when I was going to run outside?
Claire's dad had been kind enough to agree to come along on his bike to guide me down the Taff trail from their house. Claire and I headed over to her parents at around 6pm and Roger and I headed off soon after arriving. After I figured out how the pace alarms worked on the Suunto t6 I soon settled down to a steady 10min/mile pace and reeled in the miles. After making 3.5 miles away from the house I had a quick 2 minute stretch and then we headed back.

Went to Run and Become today to see if they could recommend some trainers better suited to my running/jogging style. They recommended a pair of adidas supernova with some extra tough cushioning on the inside which should apparently help with the shin problems I've sometimes had. Claire was also kind enough to buy me an early anniversary present of adidas clima cool top and shorts. She was heard complaining that "this is the most expensive run ever!"

I headed off to Bridgend to try out all the new kit on a treadmill. 20 minutes came and went with no niggles so I carried on and made the 4 miles with little fuss.

Wow! I managed 5.5 miles tonight. I guess that's all the proof I need that the Suunto T6 is an incredible running aid! Well, ok, perhaps there were other factors at work here. I managed to plonk myself directly in front of the big fan agin tonight and stayed nice and cool. I did start with a 1km run to quickly calibrate the t6 and started up again with perhaps as much as 10 seconds break to run a further 3 minutes. Then as I forgot to add more time to the machine I quickly reset for a 40 minute run. When I reached 35 minutes I felt so good I thought I may as well run for another 10 minutes. I ran for a total of 46 + the 9 minutes at the start making tonights run 5.5 miles. And I'm counting that as an all time personal best!

3 Miles was getting easier not so long ago but with the heat in Wandsworth I seem to struggle to make it even that far. I got to 3 miles today without too much fuss but I was feeling pretty lousy from the excessive heat. I walked for a bit and then ran for a further 6 minutes at nearly 1kph faster than my usual jog. My legs felt a lot looser once I started running but there was no way I could keep that pace up for long.

I should receive my heart rate monitor tomorrow so I'll be testing that out with a 4 mile run in the gym I think.

The heat is now beyond bearing/ridiculous in Wandsworth. I managed all of 2 miles before having to walk today. The heat saps all my strength and makes me feel like throwing up. Perhaps I should just throw up on the treadmill to prove a point. They reckon they'll get the aircon fixed on Thursday so we'll see.

Turns out that everyone in Wandsworth uses the gym at around 9 o'clock on a Saturday morning. Nearly every treadmill was in use so I couldn't get anywhere near the fan. It didn't take long for me to start suffering from the heat but I struggled on to make a massive 2.5 miles. A bit dissapointing after yesterdays effort but at least I got something done.
On Sunday we were up in Doncaster in a holiday inn. Unfortunately the holiday inn must have the same ideas on gym cooling as Wandsworth as it was boiling in there at 7 o'clock in the morning. They have a limit of 25 minutes on treadmills so I only completed 2.5 miles in there but I moved on and did a further 20 minutes on a cross trainer just so that I had a half decent workout.

And I was only supposed to do 3!!! Shins started playing up after 5 minutes, and escalated until around 15 minutes (when it became intermittent).

Reached 30 mins, then kept attempting an extra minute, then another, and so on till I was at 5 miles.

Now I'm too tired to even type this (my lovely wife is playing secretary, hence all the exclamation marks!!!)

Will try 3 miles tomorrow, then attempt 5.5 on Sunday - another personal best (distance-wise) if I can achieve it.

My shins started playing up today after only 5 minutes of running. It's a long time since I had any problems with them. The gym was still unbearably hot and the huge fan did little to reduce my dehydration. I'm supposed to run 3 miles tomorrow and then 6 on Saturday. I think I'll attempt a few more than 3 miles tomorrow to make up for the poor runs I've had recently. Maybe if I get plenty of rest beforehand and stretch out my legs a bit more I'll be able to have a fairly uneventful run for once.

Today the Wandsworth gym was as hot as hell again but they'd managed to put a rather large fan behind one of the rows of treadmills. I dived on the treadmill just in front of the fan and hoped it would be enough to keep my temperature down. It seemed to have done the trick as I managed the 4 miles I was supposed to do today and felt like I could have managed more. Almost looking forward to attempting 6 miles now! Yeah right. I still hate running.