Wednesday's run was a really crappy run for me.
I went into the group run already thinking that I wouldn't do my tempo portion even though it was scheduled (and I'm pretty big on keeping to the schedule). I figured that I could do the run as easy and get the tempo in on Thursday or Saturday. I was so tired as my youngest son has been walking up throughout the night again and is up for the day around 4am (He was awake today, Friday, from 3-6 and then fell back asleep leaning against me on the couch. Yawn). I was not enthusiastic at all about running.
When we started the run, I ended up alone (again - that's what SUCKS about a small group - no one is at my pace) and I had quite the internal discussion going on about running the tempo versus saving it for later in the week (saving it! HA! Like its a treat or something!). The store manager who is running with our group doubled back from the front pack and we talked for a bit about it and while he didn't say anything one way or another, he pretty much agreed that if I was feeling okay, I should probably just get it done.
At 15 minutes into the run, I hit lap on my Garmin and picked up the pace to my McMillan target of 5:25/km (Running Room has me doing tempo at 5:44/km and has me racing at 5:42/km - that just seems wrong to me, thus McMillan who agrees that my Mpace should be 5:42 to achieve a 4 hour marathon). I felt pretty good for the first 10 minutes. I was alone (boo), but managing my internal chatter to keep motivated (the usual - "you can do anything for 20 minutes." "do you think running a MARATHON will be easy?" "Suck it up, macnic"). The sidewalks were icy in parts so that slowed me down and made the run a bit harder I think. I did manage a thankful thought as I ran by my childhood Church (where I was married) and thought about how lucky I was to even be out and running.
But then... then...
My tired body and legs just caught up to me. I had caught up to the speedy runners in the group and passed them as they were done their tempo and just... crashed and burned. I hit lap at 15:56 into my tempo portion and walked for a full minute. The speedy group passed me. I caught them again at a light and said I was sticking with them now (YAY! Friends!) and managed to run another 4km with them at a punishing 5:52/km average pace.
When I finished I just felt like crap.
Ya, I did the (almost) 10k and I pretty much did a the entire tempo run, but it just felt like crap. There was no fun in the run.
Thank goodness I know that this does happen from time to time and my next run will be better (and it was).
What do you do when you're in the middle of the run and you realize that its just not working?
seems like it was mostly mental since you didn't really want to do it from the get-go, but the tiredness could also have been a factor.
ReplyDeletethe important part is giving it your best, even if you are off-pace.
Lindsay, you're so right. My mind got in the way on his one!
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