Five Runs in Five Days - My Legs are on Strike

Okay, so it was a bit ambitious of me to want to do five runs in five days, when this is only my second week of running five days, and only my third week of more than 3 runs.  My legs hate me right now.  But I feel good!

After starting the week with two 25-minute runs, I ramped up my time to 28 minutes for Wednesday-Friday.  And those three minutes really did tire me out quite a bit, especially on Wednesday.  Wednesday's weather was a bit iffy - I decided I was going to head out on my run in the early afternoon and checked the Weather Channel's website. It said 0% chance of precipitation.

As I walked downstairs, heavy downpour.

Ah, weather people.  But fortunately, it only lasted a few minutes, and after that it was just misting.  So I went for my run anyway. My legs were really feeling exhausted, so I wasn't sure how I was going to survive the rest of the week, but it turns out that sheer willpower has a lot to do with it.

Then yesterday, we were getting the remnants of what's been trouncing the south - lots of prayers sent out to everyone affected by the tornadoes.  It's really been so heartbreaking to watch, and my thoughts are with everyone affected.

For us here at the beach, we ended up with mostly high winds, not too much rain.  Because they were forecasting some severe weather, I went out for my run early and the wind just killed me.  I felt like I was running in place a few times! Just brutal.  I ran into my neighbor when I arrived back home, who said "You're ambitious!" and suggested I should take a break.  But I already knew I was taking two recovery days this weekend, so I couldn't slouch today - only one more week until the 5k!

This morning, I was up before dawn at 4:30 to watch the coverage of the Royal Wedding. I am half-English after all and have the passport to prove it! While waiting for the new royal couple to come out on the balcony for their first kiss as man and wife, I headed out for my last run of the week.  And it is beautiful outside! Cool, sunny, with enough of a breeze to (mostly) keep me from overheating.

I mapped my run from Wednesday, and was really disappointed to see that I was running at an 11:22 pace.  I mean, I know I've been running slow, but 11:22? Really?  I know I'm a bit less trained than I was for the last time I did this particular 5k, but I had a 10:33 pace for that one, and I was kind of hoping to be close to that.

At any rate, I pushed myself a bit today, even though my legs were not fresh and my knees were quite sore, and ended up with a 10:46 pace.  Not bad! I'll be curious to see how I do on Monday after two days of rest, and ramping up to 30 minutes of running.

My plan for next week is to run the first three days - thirty minutes each day - and then take Thursday and Friday to recover before Saturday's 5k.  I think that will put me in good shape, but we'll see how it goes!