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.
