Last week I ran the perfect 10 miles and felt fantastic, this weekend was to be the next step up to 12 miles and I was really looking forward to it. The weather was great on Saturday morning, the sun was shining and the temperature wasn't bad at around 7 degrees so good running conditions.
I'd done my first summer route run with the club on Thursday which took us off road down the canal and along some fields, not as easy as I'd thought. I found I had to concentrate far harder on where I put my feet not to mention staying upright as the canal was quite muddy so very slippy in parts.
I'm not sure whether it was the terrain or if I just wasn't feeling the best but my times on Thursday weren't great and I struggled to keep up with the front runners so had to drop back.
When Saturday came I was determined to go for the 12 miles but still wasn't feeling 100%. I set off fine but by mile 3 I was struggling to maintain a good pace and could tell I was dropping back, mile 4 was no better and by mile 5 I was ready to give up. This is most unusual and something I've not had to do on any run in over a year, I feel stopping is cheating, I just can't do it. For this reason I decided to push on to complete 10k and see how I felt then. At least I'd know I'd achieved a good distance - even if it was only half way.
By the time I'd made the 10k I was completely done in, there was no way I could've gone on to finish 12 miles. I walked and found a bench in the sun to sit for a while and figure out what went wrong but I really don't know.
Last week I'd been on fire, I even felt as though I held back in case I ran out of energy in the last miles. Moreover I loved every minute. This week nothing worked, my legs felt like lead, I was breathing far heavier than usual and I couldn't even focus on my mindful yoga, it was hopeless.
Maybe I've just pushed myself too hard and my body was telling me I needed a rest, I've been running further and further lately so it wouldn't be surprising. What did surprise me was how bad I felt about not completing the distance I'd set out to do, as if I'd let myself down.
For this reason I'm going to take a few days off to relax and recharge so I can hopefully get back on track next week.
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