Starting with Long Runs...

Somedays, I don't have a very successful run. Today was one of those days. 

Ugh.

When my alarm went off at 7 this morning (yes, I know it's Saturday), I definitely wanted to snooze it and get some more sleep.  But I remembered to ask myself "do I really want this?" and that was enough to get me up and out.  Plus, I remembered how itchy and frustrated I'd been the day before, and I knew a run would solve that.

As I started my warm up walk (which I've shortened), I thought, "What a beautiful day this is!" The sun was shining, it was 62 degrees with a lovely breeze - perfect weather, right? Well, yes, perfect for a WALK.  But with high humidity and direct sun, it wasn't so perfect for running.  

I started my run and my body HURT. Muscles, joints, tendons, all of it. The only thing that hasn't been hurting are my feet and ankles.  I kept thinking that my body probably would have benefitted from an extra day off after my races, because I've struggled so much all week.  I've been trying to figure out why that might be, since it was really just two short runs back to back, and I've been running longer distances for a few weeks now, but I just can't figure it out.  All I know is that my body has been more sore and more tired this week than it's been since I started running.

As usual though, I knew I needed at least a mile to warm up my muscles, so I kept at it.  Since it was warm and humid, and my body was so sore, I didn't push myself too hard speed-wise.  My goal was to run 45 minutes today, and I wanted to make sure I met that.  By the time I got to the water, my body had warmed up, but I was really starting to overheat.  Almost none of my route is shaded, so that always makes running in the early morning sun interesting.  My halfway time was 22:30, but in my overheated state, I thought I was supposed to turn earlier, at 23:30, and by the time I realized, I was too tired to turn back around and run further.  Normally that wouldn't be such a big deal, but when I mapped my run when I got home, I realized I'd run 3.96...just 0.04 short of 4 miles.  That frustrated me.  But then I remembered I'd actually run further than where I started running, so when I double-checked my mapping, I realized I'd actually run 4.01 miles.  So more successful than I thought, though it could certainly be better! 

After turning around, I made it to 34 minutes, and I thought I was going to pass out.  I gave myself a minute to walk, which also frustrated me.  But that minute cooled me off enough that I was able to finish the rest of the run without passing out or throwing up, though I was definitely close - and that's key in my book!  I finished past where I started at 45 minutes, so even with one minute of walking, I still had an 11:10 pace.  So as I write this, I'm now thinking the run was a little more successful than I initially believed!  

Earlier this week, I aggravated the pinched nerve in my neck, and it's been getting steadily worse over the past two days, so I'm really looking forward to a rest day tomorrow.  It unfortunately means no yoga, since I have limited motion, but fortunately running only bothers it slightly.  Hopefully tomorrow will bring some relief, though with another two-hour drive ahead of me, I'm not so sure!  Next week, I'll be running Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and I'm already looking forward to my short run!