No luck today

I should go check my horoscope for today.  It probably said something like this:

"Your plans will not come to fruition, no matter how good your intentions.  Also, avoid running in swamps."

After this morning's fiasco, I decided to go to my gym and finish up the last 4 miles of my 5 mile run.  There is a 30 limit on the cardio equipment, but I decided to cheat by doing 30 minutes (at a 5 mph, or a 12-minute mile split), then finish the last 18 minutes after taking a brief walk around the facility, thus allowing anyone waiting for the treadmill to jump on it whilst I wasn't there.  Since no one did, I claimed the treadmill and finished up my 18 minutes.  But it did not feel good.  Not one little bit.  In fact, it's good that I stopped after the 30 because I'm pretty sure that I didn't have the power to get through another 18 without a break.  I was on the verge of overheating.  Inside.

I've run on the treadmill at my gym before and did not find it overwhelming.  It's slightly hot, but not too bad, and they have a fan right next to the treadmills to help you recover.  Today, though, was not especially fun.  I was wondering if I really was just not in shape or what was happening, but before freaking out I decided to check with the gym employee to see how hot it was.

The temperature gauge is in a different room than the treadmill.  According to the gauge, it was 75F.  According to the employee, the treadmill room is generally a few degrees hotter than that room.

In other words, it was too freaking hot for running on a treadmill.  The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that a fitness center be between 68-71F -- I just found this doing a quick Google search and haven't been able to confirm it on the ACSM website, but that seems about right.  However, this is not taking into account the humidity outside.  If it is humid outside -- and dear Lord, was it ever this afternoon (in the 80% range) as a thunderstorm was forming -- then probably a few degrees lower is not amiss.

So maybe 75+ is a little warm?

Not my day for running!  Tomorrow is stretching (yay), then only one more run in Florida.  Wednesday's run, barring any unexpected events, will be four miles next to the beautiful Charles River.  Here's hoping it isn't the beautiful yet smelly Charles River.