Run the Life You Have

This week was a reminder that sometimes you don’t get to run the plan. You run the life you have.

It started simply enough. Sunday was an easy walk with the dogs. Monday was a solid 7 km run, steady and controlled. Then things got interesting.

Tuesday began before sunrise with an early flight to Perth. The flight was delayed, but priorities are priorities. I got my run in first, packed up, and headed for the airport. From there it was a long stretch of travel: Perth to Singapore, then Manila, and finally Dumaguete in the Philippines.

By the time I landed Wednesday, I was done. No time or energy for a run, but I kept my streak alive with some resistance band work for my strength challenge. I decided to shift my schedule and just call myself one day behind for the week.

Thursday morning brought thick humidity and a 10 km run along the boulevard. The air felt heavy, the kind that slows every breath. Friday I managed a quick 7 km before another full day of meetings. Saturday was a short 4 km shakeout ahead of a big conference with the team.

That left the long run for Sunday.

It was hot from the start, already 27 degrees and humid by the time I got out the door. The plan was 15 km easy, but it became a grind. My heart rate climbed quickly and wouldn’t settle. The hotter it got, the slower my pace became, finishing with a 5:00/km average that felt like a sprint effort.

By the time I stopped, I was dizzy and flushed, even in air conditioning. My body had clearly had enough. After a big lunch and a few litres of water, I finally started to feel normal again.

Here’s what was really happening. When you run in the heat, your body pushes blood toward the skin to help cool itself. That means less blood is available for your working muscles, and your heart has to beat faster to move oxygen around. The higher the humidity, the less your sweat can evaporate, which limits your ability to cool down. The result is a higher heart rate and a slower pace for the same effort. It’s called cardiovascular drift, and it’s your body’s way of saying, “Ease up.”

Add in travel fatigue, poor sleep and irregular meals, and the body has to work even harder to do the same job. Fatigue affects hydration, hormone regulation and temperature control, so your system ends up overreacting to normal effort.

This is where “run the life you have” becomes more than just a saying. Training isn’t about forcing perfection; it’s about adjusting to reality. Some weeks, your body’s carrying more than the training plan knows about. That’s not failure, it’s context.

The truth is, your body doesn’t care about the plan on paper. It cares about load, stress and recovery. If work, travel or heat add load, something else has to give. Otherwise, you risk burnout or injury.

So this week, instead of chasing splits, I focused on awareness. Listening to what my body was saying. Respecting the signals. Because long-term progress doesn’t come from pushing harder every week. It comes from knowing when to push, and when to pause.

Tip of the Week:
Run the life you have. Training plans are guides, not rules. If the heat, travel or fatigue stack up, adjust your effort. Your body adapts from consistency, not collapse.

Next week:
Back to steadier sessions, better recovery, and maybe some cooler air. The Tokyo countdown continues, one smart adjustment at a time.