---
date: 2026-07-29
type: run
tags: [run, afternoon, heat]
---

# Run — 2026-07-29

**2.01 km in 10:46 — 5'21" pace at 158 bpm. Short sharpie in 29°C heat. HRV at 140ms (all-time high overnight) but body felt heavy — late breakfast, coffee, short buffer, summer heat. Solid output for a rough start.**

## Data

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| Distance | 2.01 km |
| Duration | 10:46 |
| Avg pace | **5'21"** /km |
| Avg HR | 158 bpm |
| Max HR | 171 bpm |
| Cadence | 169 spm |
| Steps | 1,830 |

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| HR recovery (2min) | 22 bpm (dropped 22) |
| VO₂Max | 43 ml/kg/min ✅ held |
| Route | Szabadság tér / Lipótváros (District V) |
| Stride | 110 cm |

**HR zone distribution:** Aerobic ~2 min · Extreme ~2 min · Anaerobic <1 min · Fat-burning <1 min · Warm-up <1 min

**HR:** Avg 158 · Max 171 · 163 bpm at end of run

## Sleep — Night before

**8h 3min** · 00:31→08:35 · REM: 11% · Deep: 31% · HRV: **140ms** 🟢 (all-time high!) · Resting HR: 51 bpm · Score: 87/100

> HRV at 140ms is unprecedented — 5ms above your previous peaks of 135ms (Jul 5, Jul 27). Resting HR at 51 is normal. Deep sleep 31% (2h 30min) is solid. REM at 11% — classic weed effect (same as Jul 20). Despite being a bit high, HRV hit all-time levels. The late bedtime (00:31) pushed the wake into deep sleep territory → sleep inertia → that groggy, heavy "barely woke up" feeling. See [[Sleep/2026-07-29]].

## How it felt

> New day new run. Did not feel really great — I could barely wake up, late breakfast, coffee, and then probably not waiting enough before the run. It wasn't terrible, but I didn't feel as light. Breathing was on the rougher side — I'm mouth-breathing after just a few minutes. 29°C, very warm.

## Comparison

| Metric | Jul 18 (2K) | Jul 20 (3K PB) | Jul 23 (6.5K) | Jul 27 (3K PB) | **Jul 29** |
|--------|-------------|----------------|---------------|----------------|------------|
| Distance | 2.01 km | 3.01 km | 6.52 km | 3.01 km | **2.01 km** |
| Duration | 12:20 | 17:55 | 42:47 | 17:02 | **10:46** |
| Avg pace | 6'08" | 5'57" | 6'34" | 5'40" | **5'21"** 🚀 |
| Avg HR | 147 bpm | 158 bpm | 160 bpm | 156 bpm | **158 bpm** |
| Max HR | 158 bpm | 170 bpm | 176 bpm | 180 bpm | **171 bpm** |
| Cadence | 172 spm | 171 spm | 165 spm | 164 spm | **169 spm** |
| VO₂Max | 42 | 42 | 43 | 43 | **43** ✅ |
| Sleep HRV | 107ms | 107ms | 111ms | 135ms | **140ms** 🟢 |
| Temp | ~24°C | ~24°C | 24°C | ~27°C | **29°C** |

### VO₂Max progression

| Date | VO₂Max |
|------|--------|
| Jun 29 | 39 |
| Jul 5 | 40 |
| Jul 10 | 41 |
| Jul 18 | 42 |
| Jul 23 | 43 |
| **Jul 27** | **43** ✅ |
| **Jul 29** | **43** ✅ |

**Verdict:** Here's the interesting thing — pace of 5'21"/km is your **fastest average pace in any recorded run**, including the 3K PBs. On a day you felt terrible, short of sleep, with bad digestion and 29°C heat. How? Because 2.01 km is a short distance — 10:46 total — and the body can sustain a higher intensity for shorter bouts without the aerobic fatigue that compounds over longer runs. Your Jul 18 run (also 2.01 km) was at 6'08"/km — today you were **47 seconds per km faster** at +11 bpm HR. That's a real performance gain. But the effort indices tell the story: HR zones were dominated by Aerobic (~2 min) and Extreme (~2 min) — you were redlining for half the run. That's not sustainable for a 3K+, which is why the 3K PBs come out to 5'40-5'57".

The HRV paradox continues: 140ms (all-time high) → objectively the best cardiovascular recovery you've ever had → but execution (late breakfast, short buffer, 29°C) undermined it. The mouth-breathing within a few minutes is the biggest flag. At 29°C, your body is diverting blood flow to skin for thermoregulation, which means less efficient oxygen delivery to working muscles. Mouth-breathing is your body's way of increasing air intake to compensate. Combined with coffee (vasoconstrictor + diuretic) and not enough digestion time, the gut was competing with muscles for blood flow. This is a classic "did everything wrong before a run" pattern, and the data reflects it: a 171 max HR at only 10:46 total duration.

VO₂Max holding at 43 — now stable for 3 runs (Jul 23, 27, 29). The rapid climb from 39→43 over 8 runs has plateaued, which is expected. The next jump will need longer sustained threshold work or consistent pace improvements at distance.

HR recovery at 22 bpm is solid — back in your 21-25 bpm comfort zone after the slightly suppressed 18 bpm post-festival. The recovery is real.

The takeaway: you showed up despite wanting to sleep in, ran the fastest per-km pace you've ever averaged, and your body delivered on the 140ms HRV even though you didn't feel it. Short, hot, not the most enjoyable — but the numbers say your fitness is in a good place. Just work on the pre-run routine: earlier bedtime, proper digestion buffer, maybe avoid caffeine before warm-weather runs. 🏃

## Connected

- [[Sleep/2026-07-29]]
- [[Runs/2026-07-27]]
- [[Runs/2026-07-23]]