I really had no plans on running tonight. I kind of wanted to, but Active.com said it was a rest day and who am I to argue with a rest day? Well, I really wanted to get out of the funk from my long run on Saturday and what better way to think about your issues than to do it on a nice 5k run, right? That and I am traveling tomorrow for work, so likely not going to get a run in…two birds, right?
I thought about doing 45 minutes and then I remembered I just ran 9 miles two days ago. I settled on the 5k mainly to get some faster run in and because it was after 8 pm when I started, and the sun was not in my favor.
The weather was decent, around 68 degrees but with about a 10-15 mph breeze (yes its a breeze in Wyoming until around 30 mph) which was a head wind around 0.7 – 1.6 miles and a tail wind pretty much all the way back. As always, the wind slowed a bit towards the end (calm happens at night, early morning here).
This my standard route, but I threw myself a curve ball with the play list. Instead of my normal Running list, I tried to shuffle that, only instead of shuffle my entire library. This had me hitting next a lot during the run but was different running to new music. Out of the 28 minutes, only one song came in from my standard running playlist.
My pace chart doesn’t look that bad and you can really tell the wind impact (in my opinion) as the pace dropped a full 30 plus seconds and I know my effort was the same. Windy sure does suck when you are a bit over 6’2″, we are like a fridge going down the road.
My splits were pretty decent, given I was coming off a long ass run (farthest run of my life) and lack of any real motivation, plus being late in the day. Having the 3rd mile be only 2 seconds off the 2nd tells me that my legs are strong, just not 9+ miles strong.
LEARNING
I think what I take away from this is that the training program is working, I am getting stronger, just maybe not as strong as I would want to be and not at the right levels. So I am not going to scrap the concept of my current plan, just maybe back off the long Saturday runs a notch or two as there is no real reason to get to nearly 2 hours this week, given I am months away from my half.
I will have to play it by ear, as I will be traveling for Family this week, heading home to Iowa (less than 1,000 feet, Oxygen Baby!!!!) so when I do set off on Sunday morning for my long run (traveling Saturday), I won’t really have a time in mind, more of a hope. Plus that is the day of my Family Reunion, and will need the energy to run away if necessary.
Almost two weeks upcoming at near sea level, what is this high altitude runner to do…but suck up some O2!!!
Good job taking it easy after your long run! I agree that you don’t need to do super long runs so far before your half… and you’ll probably be less likely to get injured too. I followed my training plan pretty loosely, the long runs were important (in the 1.5 months before the race) but otherwise I just listened to my body!
Hi there,
you probably didn’t feel like you are getting as strong as you want b/c most running plans are based on building up mileage gradually, backing off, building up more (here’s where you’ll feel better vs. the same distance before), then tapering for the race, then BAM, you feel fantastic, rested & ready on race day. Also, try not to judge the success of a training program based on how you feel with a substitute run on a rest day. I can hear my coach saying, what did you expect, you were supposed to rest not run.