The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.

The Good:

Friday's tempo run of 6 miles at 15k to half marathon tempo pace. I did 6 miles in 39:35, which is 6:35 per mile average. I actually felt great, and completely surprised myself that I was able to focus for that long. My 1.5 splits were 9:47, 9:50, 9:59, 9:46. I went out too fast, first 400 in 91, and realized my first loop would be fast but I just told myself to stay under ten minutes for the last 3 loops and ended up running way faster than I "felt like" I was running.

The Bad:

The heat and humidity are really pissing me off. I'm really not happy about having to wake up at 5 or 5:30 in the morning just to be able to run. I have also been sick this week, a minor cold I caught from Pete which he caught at his conference. It's almost gone, but my throat is still sore.

The Ugly:

My long run today. I was going for 20 miles at 7:30 pace. We got a late start, so it was pretty warm by the time we started at 7am. I felt really good though, and hit 51:55 for the first 7 miles. All of a sudden, about a mile later, my legs stopped working. By ten miles I felt really depleted, hot, dehydrated, and altogether just not good. I started going over the situation in my mind. I ran into Pete on the trail (he was doing 15 at a different pace) and he tried to help by telling me I was "almost done". I believed him for a split second, but then I did some simple math in my head and realized he was lying to me. Eventually I decided to stop my watch at 12 miles (it said exactly 1:30:00, which I thought was weird and maybe a sign?)gather my thoughts, i.e walk for a few, and then continue the last two miles back to my car. I recalled that my long run for next week is supposed to be 15 with 12 at marathon pace, so I'm just going to try for 20 again next Sunday and make up the 12 miles at marathon pace another time.

I've been through enough "bad days" to know that it's not a big deal to have to change your workout due to outside factors. You don't all of a sudden get out of shape or lose your talents. Sometimes your body isn't ready, and it's better to be smart rather than tough it out. I have felt this way before and I think I just need to do a better job of getting sleep, fluids, and more good food. I'm down to 125.2 as of this morning, which is 5 pounds less than I weighed at the beginning of the month. I don't want to get below 120, so I gotta eat (and drink) up!

This week:
Monday: off
Tuesday: 10 miles
Wednesday: 14 miles
Thursday: 5 miles recovery
Friday: 6 mile tempo, 11 total
Saturday: 6 (miserably hot and humid) miles
Sunday: 14
Total: 60 miles