The Pace You Could Be 🏃♂️💨
Some runs come with invisible resistance.
Not the kind you can see in a headwind or feel on a steep hill * but the kind that clings to you, molecule by molecule, in the form of heat and humidity.
Lately, I’ve been curious: What would my pace look like without that extra burden?
So, I’ve been comparing my Normalized Graded Pace (NGP) with what it might have been under cooler conditions, like an October morning.
It’s an interesting exercise, and I’ve started tracking “dew point-adjusted pace” in some of my run logs (like this one and this one). The cooler-air scenario almost always gives me a “fantasy pace” * a number that’s fun to look at and maybe even motivational.
But here’s the catch:
Fantasy pace doesn’t win races. The pace I actually run today * in the real-world soup of August * is what builds the engine for October. So yes, it’s fine to indulge in the what-if numbers. Just don’t fall too in love with them.
After all, race day won’t care about your “October pace”… unless race day is in October. 😉