Reevaluating My Pace

Since it has gotten so hot and humid here in H-town, I've been really disappointed in my running pace. Really disappointed. For several weeks, I couldn't even string two miles together without walking. After that, it was hit or miss: one day I'd go out and be able to run (really slow) without walking, but the next I'd go out (really slow), my HR would skyrocket (we're talking over 200 bpm here), and I'd be forced to walk. WTF??

I keep telling myself that I just need to adapt to the heat/humidity. We didn't really have much of a spring here. One week I was pretty much running in 50-60 degrees, and literally the next week it was in the upper 70's. So I think my body got no chance to gradually acclimate. As a result, I've been trying to cut myself some slack.

But it has been really frustrating! I've been stressing over losing fitness, losing speed, losing endurance. Thinking thoughts like, "Maybe I just can't run more than a mile at a time any more...", but knowing that those thoughts don't truly make sense.

Well, now I'm frustrated because I want to train with The Woodlands FIT for the Houston Marathon. Their program starts July 5th, with a time trial to determine which pace group you should be running with. Now, I had a 25:04 5K in late April. I know that my marathon pace is going to be waaaaay slower than that, however, I want to represent what I am capable of accurately so that I am placed appropriately. I do not want to run all slow, and end up with a pace group that will train to go much slower than I am capable of. I know that I will acclimate, and I know that I will continue getting faster throughout the summer and certainly when it gets cooler my speed will almost magically (at least that's how it seemed last fall) increase.

So, I plugged that 25:04 into McMillan's Running Calculator, my old friend. It puts me at a 9:20 pace for just over a 4 hour marathon, and an 8:51 pace for just under a 2 hour half. But here is what really made me feel better:
Recovery Jogs: 10:50 to 11:20
Long Runs: 9:50 to 10:50
Easy Runs: 9:50 to 10:20

These are just about the speed I've been running since the heat arrived. Even though I'm working entirely too hard for this meager speed, it is still in line with *something* to do with what I should be seeing, and even that small knowledge is somewhat comforting.