Life

Sometimes life and it's daily events don't mesh well with running. That being said it's been a couple days since I've written. It also has had an effect on my runs. A short recap:

Thursday - I was scheduled for 8 miles at a 7:00 minute pace. After getting home from work I mowed for a bit and started trimming our tree line in the backyard. With the heat and humidity this was not an easy task. 2.5 hours (8:30pm) later I was stuffing my face with some food to head out the door for a run (I had to skip lunch and dinner was to get some quick calories in the body).

Our neighborhood is in a 1.1 mile circle, so on runs like this I tend to do loops. The problem with this run was a.) I was beat from the yard work. b.) I hadn't eaten well c.) The weather was calling for rain d.) It was a bit humid. My splits were:

Mile 1 - 6:51
Mile 2 - 6:54
Mile 3 - 6:52
Mile 4 - 6:31 ( It started to rain during this mile. For the first 1/4 it was a nice drizzle then a down pour. I figured I'd pick up the pace and call it a day. At one point I saw 6:11 as a pace and figured I'd dial it back a bit)

At this point I was in front of my house and wet to the bone. I took my watch off, put it in the mailbox and continued on. I figured I was already wet so why not continue (Not always the best, but there was no lightning or thunder, so . . . .) I was still clipping along on my pace. If I had to guess I would say I was in the low 6:30's for the next 3 miles. The last mile I started to bonk. Maybe 7:30 range. Overall a good run, legs were pretty good, just soaked to the bone by the end.

Friday - Sucky run, but kept on pace (suppose to be at a "normal" pace (6:45 to 7:00). I averaged 6:58. The legs were beat from Thursday's run and there was no motivation to push it.

Saturday - I woke up and from the start knew I wasn't going to hit the splits that I was suppose to (First 5 miles were suppose to be at a normal pace. The next 7 were suppose to be at race pace - 6:20 and the final 4 were a cool down pace.)

For the first 5 I was pretty well dead on, but dreading the next 7. The legs were tight, it was hot and starting to get humid out and the motivation wasn't there. Mentally, I was throwing in the towel. The first couple of miles in this section I was under 6:40, but no where close to the 6:20 pace. The leg turn over was ok, but a little tight, but more importantly the motivation was there. That was until I stopped at the gas station to get a water and Gatorade. I chugged the water and poured the Gatorade in my water bottle. After chugging the water I realized it had an aftertaste. Looking at the label I realized the water was a caffeine water and I thought "this is going to be interesting" as I haven't had a drink with caffeine since the beginning of the year. Let's just say that the "doping" efforts of the caffeine did wonders to not only my pace but my motivation. I don't know if it was a placebo affect or it the caffeine gave me a boost, but man, I was hitting my splits. More importantly I made up my time and hit my 7 miles dead on - - 6:20 pace. The next 4 were suppose to be a cool down, but still being "high" I was still going a little fast (Also with this run I took a GU at miles 5 and 10). Overall, this run was a good mental test.

I know I can do the faster miles, it was tough and I needed to get over the mental block. It doesn't help that I've been training more consistent lately, but with that there have been some tough workouts in there. Overall my splits were as follows:

1 - 6:54
2 -6:52
3 - 7:02
4 - 7:01
5 - 6:55
6 - 6:36
7 - 6:39
8 - 6:35
9 - 6:17 (Guess when I had the water)
10 - 6:08
11 - 6:05
12 - 5:58 (I knew this was fast, but I figured I was done with my 7 miles, might as well push it)
13 - 6:52
14 - 6:52
15 - 7:04
16 - 7:01

Doing a self assessment of the week, I think today's run was more difficult than the 3-2-1 speed workout I did on Tuesday. I don't know if the day off on Monday had anything to do with it, but today was more of a mental challenge.