Unmitigated Disaster

OBJECTIVE
Long Run 16 mi. @ 8:25 min./mi.

ACHIEVED
15.64 mi. @ 10:23 min./mi. (2:42:35)

8:24 AM 67° 87% 2 mph

To say this run didn't go well would be a gross understatement! I wasn't feeling particularly motivated this morning but finally made it out. I drove to Memorial Park to use a 16-mile route that the group ran back in July. I was vaguely familiar with the route but had it programmed into my Garmin so I knew where to go.

I didn't feel too good right out of the gate. But after the first mile started feeling better, got into a good rhythm, and picked up the pace. Things were fine through 6 miles. It was a beautiful morning and even my negative thoughts had dissipated. Then my left knee started bothering me. I find it interesting that this is about the exact same distance that it started giving me a problem last Saturday. I just figured I'd "tough it out". After all I only had about 10 miles left (stupid idea!). Somewhere during the seventh mile, I stopped for a quick drink and a good stretch. When I started back up, everything felt fine. I figured I was good to go. But a short time later the knee was giving me trouble again. After arguing with my ego during the eighth mile, I decided I had better shift to the Galloway method of alternately walking and running ... maybe that would help. Soon thereafter I degenerated into mostly walking and when I did run I was reduced to a slow jog due to my throbbing knee. To add insult to injury, I was running alone and wasn't familiar with the area. So although I knew a direct line back to the park and my car would be much shorter, I couldn't risk getting lost in an unfamiliar area so the second half of my planned 16-miler now turned into a hike rather than a run. Fortunately, the knee wasn't much trouble when walking.

This led me to ponder the following question:

Is

A Bad Run > No Run

a true statement?

I decided that a bad run is better than no run if only because it allows me to savor the good days!

Here's the breakdown of my run in by halves:

8.00 mi. @ 8:38
7.36 mi. @ 11:58

This is disappointing and I think it's attributable to the gap in my training when I was working too much during late-January and February. I'll keep working at it. Hopefully the knee is able to recover during my active training.


PRE RUN
Water & oatmeal w/skim milk
ClifBar

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water & slice of cold, cheese pizza

Un-Tempo Run

OBJECTIVE
6 mi. w/ 4 mi. Tempo Run @ 7:05

ACHIEVED
WU 1 mi.; 4 mi. @ 7:17 (29:07); CD 1.13 mi.

4:57 AM 41° 76% 0 mph

I was apprehensive about this run for a couple days. It was my first effort at speed since my latest attempt at a return to fitness.

The warm up went fine. My legs felt okay and my left ITB was only hinting of any issue. The first mile of my tempo effort went fine too. I hit my time but could already feel that making it 3 more miles while holding the pace probably wasn't going to be in the cards. I thought about cutting a mile off the run but convinced myself otherwise. If I didn't hit my times at least I'd get my planned mileage for the day.

I was surprised that I held up through the second mile. The run was going better than expected and really better than I was feeling. From there, I really lost the pace. I was running in an unfamiliar area and the streets were windy-er (is that a word?) than I anticipated. I'd tried this route one time before and ended up inadvertently cutting the run short. As I floundered around - both for directions and for pace - I finally emerged from the neighborhood onto a familiar street. I'd given up on looking at my watch and just tried to press it to the end of the fourth mile. It wasn't a surprise that my overall conditioning just wasn't there but it was still disappointing. I made a good push to the end and took some consolation that I didn't cut the run short like I had considered earlier.

My splits:

7:03 / 7:07 / 7:28 / 7:29

Obviously I've got some work to do but at least I'm not starting from scratch. I finished out the run with an easy cool down mile back to the house. I'll monitor my body - primarily legs - to see how I'm feeling after this effort. There's a long run on the schedule for Saturday but I'm going to let my body "tell" me what the right thing to do is.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
SlimFast, multivitamin, & Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk

Hmmmm ....

OBJECTIVE
Easy run 4 mi. @ 8:25 min./mi.

ACHIEVED
4.00 @ 8:10 min./mi.

4:36 AM 55° 50% 17 mph

I took an extra rest day trying to give my legs and more specifically my left ITB a chance to recover from Saturday's long run.

I used my ITB strap expecting the worst. I was pleasantly surprised that I really didn't have any problem with my ITB. My legs felt very fatigued around one mile in but I'm convinced that's just a lack of conditioning. A little over 1.5 miles it started raining and I expected it to burst open but it only lasted a few minutes then stopped. There was lightning dancing across the early morning sky for the rest of the run. The wind was really blowing and I noticed the return trip was more difficult going into the wind. However, once back at the house analyzing my run, I was surprised at my mile splits ... not the speed but the consistency. I was at

8:14 / 8:14 / 8:14 / 7:59

I'm sure I've never hit splits like that even on a tempo run! It was wholly unintentional as I didn't pay much attention to my watch.

I'll see how my legs feel and plan to go out for an aggressive tempo run Thursday morning. That will be the true test of my loss of conditioning and my ITB.

PRE RUN
Clif bar & water

POST RUN
SlimFast & multivitamin
Later, water & GrapeNuts w/ skim milk