Not as Strong

Well after a great week last week, I figured things could go downhill. Today wasn't a terrible workout, but I was clearly feeling the effects of last week's higher intensity. I ran an easy four miles on West River Drive and followed that up with five hill sprints behind the Art Museum.

Early on, my legs didn't feel strong. I figured they'd come around, but they never did. They felt sluggish all day. Hopefully it was just a bad day. More likely, it was due to putting in a tough week last week. I thought with all the recovery I allow myself, by only running four days a week, that it wouldn't be a problem.

I'm not going to change my plans this week, but will monitor it into next week. I will only do one session of hill repeats next week (early in the week). Hopefully my body will adjust to the training and I'll be fine. I need to be cautious now with the half marathon just around the corner.

I was surprised at how many people were actually out running on West River Drive this time. I saw a guy up ahead on the way out and tried not to focus on catching him. Eventually I did catch up though, right before the turnaround. I elect not to pass him.

Shortly before the turnaround, I saw a college age girl and older guy running near each other. I didn't try to too hard initially to reel them in, but as I got closer I just had to. The girl looked like she was running a tempo run or something because she sped up to catch him and then fell behind him and then passed him again. The second pass happened right as I was making my move. It was the final half mile. I opened up my stride and cruised on by her. I think she wanted to follow, but quickly realized I was too fast. I finished at a decent speed, but still never felt good.

After some walking, I jumped into the hill repeats. I might actually have to find some steeper hills to use. It just seems too gradual and my legs don't really hurt until I get to the much steeper portion of the hill at the finish. I don't feel like I'm going hard enough, but I can't get my legs to really go any harder either. I got a little light headed too. Maybe I'll try the repeats on Lemon Hill later in the week instead.

I didn't have it today, but I'm still happy to get through the run. I'm really starting to focus on the half marathon now. I'll be camping near there and will drive the course the night before. Initially, I was hoping for a 8 minute per mile pace, but now I'm looking more towards a 7:30 pace. We'll see how it goes. Clearly the hills out there will be tougher than what I typically face around the river here.

Because of the photos I took at the Philadelphia Distance Classic, I found a good running club. One of the top female runners had on a singlet for it. It's for post college runners and looks very competitive. I have a long way to go to get to their level, but it gives me something good to aim for. They are sponsored by Philly Runner.

3 miles - 23:44 (7:55)