Well, hopefully it's just an IOU. That said, today's run was work. That's all there was to it really. Ever since I wrote it into my schedule I'd been afraid of it. The simple plan was to jog down to the PMA, complete the 8.5 mile "loop" at tempo effort, and jog home. It would be somewhere between 14-15 miles, long enough for me to classify it as a long run, fast enough for me to fear it. I wanted it to be a race pace workout for Broad St, a 10-mile race scheduled for May 4. On a good day I'm confident I could do the loop in 56:00. I quickly realized that today wasn't a "good" day to try to run that pace.
Yesterday's race didn't leave me sore really, mostly just pleasant tiredness. But afterwards I biked all over the damn county in pursuit of various social obligations and inevitably got to bed later than desirable. So, sleepy and feeling kind of generally zapped I set out around 8 this morning. Realized when I got to the PMA that there were a few races happening - a 10k, 5k, and 3k - and I feared the drives would be clogged a bit. Once I picked it up to tempo pace I saw that I'd caught the tail end of the race, so the roads were pretty clear. I was already feeling warm.
I found that it was a challenge to maintain even sub-7 pace out there today. This is the tail end of a pretty tough week so this isn't surprising. At points I was going faster, at points I thought I was only to learn that I wasn't. Never really found a rhythm. With 2 miles to go until the PMA I remembered I had a gel and immediately downed it. Not sure if this did much. Gave me a cramp anyway. The loop went by in 58:11, barely a tempo pace, but it felt like it, and I think that's what matters for today.
Back in front of the PMA I doubled back to Lloyd Hall for some water, and it was only when I stopped that I noticed how hot and dehydrated I was. It wasn't even that warm out today. I remembered that I had to be in West Philly at 11, and the stop for water put me behind schedule, so I pushed back home for a total of 15.4 miles in 1:55:25. Not 20 min after dragging my sorry ass up my front steps I was bike sprinting cross town again. Pretty uncomfortable, and certainly not ideal post run conditions. Not a bad run, not a good run though. I'm glad this week is over.
1 comment:
You had a huge PR and great workout yesterday it is no surprise those tempo miles were tough. 3 miles in a race doesn't seem like much but a tough workout the next day is a lot to ask of those poor legs.
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