I Wish I Could Bottle It

Last Friday was a tale of two runs. I normally do my long runs on Friday so I don't have to worry about it over the weekend, but I was feeling a little beat up on Thursday so I decided to flip flop Friday and Saturday to give my legs a little break. So Friday called for two runs of 9 and 7 miles. I was actually very surprised that the morning run went by without a hitch. For some reason, there was some spring in my step and I completed the run at a 6:30 pace. However, things came crashing back down to earth in the afternoon for what should have been a very easy 7 miler. To say I struggles on this run would be an understatement. It was pretty humid out, which I've beginning to figure out is my Kryptonite, and the entire run was all about survival. I didn't bring the Garmin with me, so I can't say precisely how ugly it was, so you'll just have to take my word for it. It was ugly.

On Saturday I spent the morning painting kids rooms, which always takes longer than I expect it to, and didn't wind up heading out for an 18 miler until about 1:30PM. Luckily, the temps weren't too bad on Saturday, although that humidity always seems to get me, regardless of air temperature. I was cooked by the end and was glad to be done with an overall pace of 6:49. The hamstring and hips really were giving me problems from mile 10 on during this run. I'm hoping it was just from being on my feet all morning painting and then going straight into the run. I'm not used to manual labor, and I'm not proud of that.

Sunday we made a last minute decision to take a day trip out to Michigan City, IN to visit the zoo and the beach. I brought my running shoes but never got a chance to get out for a run during the day. By the time we got home, I was tired, hungry, and in no mood for a run, so I skipped it. So that brought my total for the week to 82 miles in 8 runs. While my mileage is not quite where it was last year, when I was consistently at 100 miles for most of June and July, I feel like I'm putting in more quality miles this time around, so hopefully that tradeoff will work out for me come racing season.

For the week the schedule looked like this:

Mon: 9 miles with 7 @ 5:53
Tues: 14 miles
WedAM: 9 Miles @ 6:37
WedPM: 7 Miles
Thur: 9 miles with 5 @ 5:41
FriAM: 9 Miles @ 6:30
FriPM: 7 Miles (Ugly)
Sat: 18 Miles @ 6:49
Sun: Nothing

Total: 82 Miles in 8 Runs.

Today was 9 miles with 7 of them at a relaxed tempo pace. What I've decided to do this year, is to do a 7-10 mile tempoish run on Monday's where the pace will be somewhere around marathon pace and then a 5 miles tempo run on Thursday's at a faster pace, probably closer to half-marathon pace. Of course these paces are more minimum guidelines. If I were to run slower than this, I would consider the workout a failure.

Today I headed out for 7 miles around marathon pace, but something was just off right from the get-go. Not off in a good way, off in a weird way. Like my legs just wanted to move, and my lungs agreed. I wish I could bottle it and save it for a race day, because I felt like I could have run forever today. The temps were warm when I was out there, mid 80's probably, but there was no humidity in the air, which I'm sure helped the cause. Anyway, when I started out, my main thoughts were to just stay relaxed, and I thought I was, but I came through the first mile in 5:26 and thought for sure I'd be paying the price later. I tried to slow down, but the next mile was an identical 5:26. At this point, I knew that this was way too fast for me to be doing on a Monday so I forced myself to slow down and finally started to find an acceptable pace in the mid to low 5:40s for the rest of the run.

This run just breezed by and I wish I had the answer why. Maybe it was the day off yesterday or maybe it was the break in humidity, or maybe it was a fluke. I'll take it though. Days like this don't come too often so when they do, I'll gladly accept them, no questions asked. For the day I did 9 miles with 7 @ 5:39 and finished feeling fresh. Strange indeed.