We have moved on to the "speed" phase of our training journey which I don't like since I prefer endurance over speed. Nevertheless, we had to get through it. The whole Augusta 6 crew were out this morning and we all did the same workout - 2hr tempo ride and 1hr tempo run. Tempo. An uncomfortably hard but sustainable pace. Joy 😐. The ride was great, I think everyone enjoyed it and got through it just fine. Then came the run. We had started early to try to beat the heat as much as possible. Towards the end of the ride there was some great cloud cover and it was a nice temperature. Perfect running weather. Just as we were about to start the run, out comes Mr. Sun in ALL his glory to tell us hello for the ENTIRE hour 😡😡😡. My tempo pace started off sweet! My Garmin didn't beep to tell me to speed up at all, things were nice! I ended up going a different route to everyone because we were all conflicted as to where we wanted to run (shade but inclines vs blazing sun but flat). I had stopped in the first couple of minutes to figure out my hydration belt which kept moving with every step. That took a couple of minutes and by the time I looked up everyone seemed to have disappeared! In reality I DID see them, but thought they were other people (no glasses on!). Anyhow, I chose the shady but hilly route and was super happy with the first part, felt good. Then I got to the sun. And the heat. And the humidity. I was still keeping a decent pace and the watch was not yet beeping but I could see the pace creeping up. After my turnaround point to head back I went right back into the sun and that's when the inevitable happened - my watched started to beep to speed up. And again. And again. And then I think even the watch got fed up of beeping so much that it went quiet after a while!!! I was still keeping a decent pace though but I had to use the rest of my water to pour over my head and myself. The Gatorade nearly got poured too except I didn't want to deal with the stickiness. THAT was the level of discomfort! In the last fifteen minutes I had had enough and stopped to regroup. Running wasn't working. After a short rest I ran again, but not longer after I stopped. And this continued repeatedly for what would become the longest fifteen minute run ever!!! Of course my watch kept screaming but I had a new goal pace in mind so once I ran above that pace I was happy (I did!) When I got back to the car park to meet everyone I could tell it was a disaster for all! The wonder twins were quarreling, David looked like he was vex! I didn't know if I wanted to vomit, cry, sit, stand or what. We hung around for a while trying to catch ourselves but to no avail. All on the way home I was still quarreling!!! Not because of the effort, just because it was hard. At the end of it I was REALLY pleased overall because I never knew I could run quickly off the bike (quickly for me, that is!) But it was still a very tough session and most certainly a run from hell!