Some Days You Just Don't Have It

The plan to kick start the week was to do a tempo run.  Originally, I thought this was a cutback week and I was going to run some shorter hill repeats.  When I looked at my schedule though, I saw that it was another long week before cutting back next week.  That will work well too since I'm going away next weekend and won't have a lot of time to run.

I decided that I would run 6 miles with 5k in the middle of it comfortably hard.  I haven't run on the Wilson/Palmer Bike path in a long time, so I opted to go there.  I ran a few tempo runs there around this time last year.

I was really hoping that I could run that middle 5k at 7 minute pace, I knew that might be a bit ambitious though.  I couldn't even run that during a race two weeks ago.  I still figured I'd see what I have.  I'd just run on feel and not worry as much about pace.

I'm consistent when it comes to running, but one thing I'm slacking off with is the other stuff.  I have done some ab/core work, but not frequently enough.  Same with hill sprints.  I rarely do strides and drills.  I need to do all that stuff more.  Today, I opted to start out with strides and drills to get my legs warmed up and ready for some fast running.  I started off on the path behind Taco Bell in Wilson.  I ran a few strides.  I then did three high knees.  That bothered my left calf a lot, so I had to stop.  I guess I should do them on grass.  The hard surface combined with the fact that I was wearing minimal shoes, took its toll.  I was surprised that my calf could get that sore from such short drills, but it did.

After the soreness, I elected to walk and stretch before running.  I then started out with an easy mile warmup.  That began right before crossing over the intersection to Easton High School.  This area is a pain because it is always busy.

I didn't start out until after 10 AM.  It was very cool and cloudy for this time of year.  The humidity wasn't too bad, but of course I was still sweating.  I even went without a shirt again.  I headed onto the main path after crossing another busy road.

I saw another runner going slow up ahead.  I was glad he'd pull me along.  The only problem was that I passed him before the tempo part of the run.  This path was quite busy with runners, walkers and bikers.  Most of the paths that I use around here are moderately traveled at best.  This one goes through mostly residential neighborhoods, so it is very crowded.  It also crosses quite a few roads.

One thing I don't like about that path is that it is quite old.  There are a lot of cracks and bumps in the pavement.  It clearly hasn't been paved in quite awhile.  This sucks for biking and it wasn't much better when I was wearing my minimalist shoes and could feel everything.

I started off okay.  My pace was right around 7 minutes for the first quarter mile.  However, I wasn't feeling strong and could already tell I was slipping a bit.  My legs never seem too sharp after a rest day.  They recover and aren't sore any more, but they just don't have any snap.  That was definitely the case today.  Even the warmup didn't help.  It didn't take too long before I was into the 7:10 to 7:15 range.  That first fast mile eventually ended at 7:13.

It was very discouraging and tough to keep pushing when I was so far off my goal.  I knew I just had to keep going and keep trying.  I hoped that maybe my legs would somehow come in.  They never really did.  I just had to keep battling with them.  It was a struggle all day.  I'm sure the 40 miles that I put in last week was one of the problems too.

The end of the second fast mile was great.  It went over an old railroad bridge and was heading downhill.  I took advantage and ran a fast second tempo mile (7:08).  The only issue I had was that I had to go around a dog that was laying in the middle of the path and resting.  The lady with him got him out of my way a little, but I still had to go around him.

Of course while that second fast mile was great with the downhill ending, that meant that when I turned around for the next mile, I had to go uphill.  The climb was tough, so I dug down and focused.  I lost some time and was flirting with a 7:30 for that mile early on.  When it leveled out, my pace did pick up.  I was getting sloppy, but did still try to focus on form.  It definitely worked some as I got faster.

As I was near completion of this mile, I passed the lady with the dog again.  I then came upon two slow bikers.  I had an extra tenth of a mile to go to get to 5k of fast running.  Rather than try to run around them, I turned back around to finish this segment up.  That meant I passed the lady and dog again and then I turned around and passed them back another time.  She must've thought I was crazy.

I was disappointed that I didn't run as fast as I would've liked.  I did feel better though when I added up this 5k segment afterward.  It ended up being 22:20 seconds.  That was the same time as my 5k two weeks ago!  I didn't run nearly that hard today either.  I could've easily gone under 22 minutes if I pushed more.  I need to save something for the rest of the week.

I was finally to the cooldown portion of the run.  Of course, the run was far from over.  I still had 1.9 miles left to run.  I'm glad it was a nice day out.  I saw that there was a guy coming from behind right after I turned around.  I guess he wasn't running faster than my cooldown pace though since he never passed me.

The last couple slow miles seemed to take a long time.  It was comfortable though.  I just didn't care much for all the road crossings.  At one, I couldn't believe a young kid on a bike just darted out right in front of a car.  I had to dodge another dog on a leash as I was nearly finished.

I look at my watch too much.  I saw that I was at a 7:49 pace overall in the final couple tenths of the run.  I just had to speed up to finish with that same pace.  I often do this at the end of runs.  I guess I like numbers too much and love going under this one or that one.  It is a little crazy.  Instead of crossing the road in front of Easton High School, I ran along side of it to finish up.  That left me a decent walk at that end.  That was probably good though, since my calf was quite sore during the easy part of the run.  It allowed me to actively rest it some more.

I put some cream on the calf to reduce the soreness.  Hopefully that will help and it won't linger on all week.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.  Tomorrow, will be an easy and semi short run.  I'm leaning towards another 6 miler.  I have no idea yet whether it will be roads or trails.  I'll figure it out in the morning.  On Wednesday, I'm doing another speedwork session.  I'm planning on 8 X .5 mile repeats.  Hopefully Kelley will join me.  This week is only going to be a 2 mile increase in total mileage from last week.  That shouldn't be too bad.

 6 miles - 46:56 (7:50 pace)