Sluggish Tempo Run

I was still at the state park for my Monday run.  I made a few morning trips to the bathroom before getting out to run.  This time, I elected to run on the roads around the park.  The plan was to run to the marina and back and anymore if needed.  By the time I got out there, it was humid (although still pretty cloudy).

I started in the campground and there was a bit of a hill.  Most of the route was fairly hilly.  That whole area is a lot of rolling hills.  Early on, I noticed a weird feeling in my shoe.  It felt like a coin and it turned out to be a penny.  I left it as good luck for the next runner.

The first mile wasn't bad.  The goal of the tempo run was the final three miles at 10K pace plus one minute.  That didn't seem to hard.  I wanted to get under 8 minutes per each mile.  I did end up struggling with the hills.  I kept the pace, but seemed to have to work harder than I thought I'd have to.

The second tempo mile around the marina and lake was a bit of a struggle.  I did stay under 8 again, but had to work hard to do so.  The views of the lake were nice.  It was still cloudy and humid.  When I hit the final mile, I felt the urge to go to the bathroom.  With none around, I tried to keep running.  Eventually, I had to stop around a half mile to a mile from the campground.  I started walking with less than half a mile to go.  I was unable to keep up the tempo pace during the half mile either.

When I got to the campground and realized I still had a lot of walking left.  I decided to run the half mile left.  My urge to go to the bathroom left and didn't come back until later in the afternoon.  It is weird how that happens sometimes.  I finished up a little short of our camper after taking the long loop.

It was a disappointing day.  I'm not sure why I felt so tired.  I just didn't have any snap.  Maybe it was the lack of sleep all weekend or all the walking around the race course.  It could have also been attributed to my bathroom issues.  Perhaps the mountain runs of last week did me in.  If that's the case, I'll find out soon enough.  Hopefully, I can chalk this up to just a bad run and it won't string together.

I'll probably head back to the Finish Line group run tomorrow after missing it last week.  I am torn though because it starts at 6 PM and the replay of the Indy race is on at 7.  I really want to see that.  I have a decision to make.  Either way, it'll be able 5 easy miles (obviously depending who shows up to dictate the pace).

4 miles - 33:21 (8:21 pace)