It is amazing how a few days of sloppy meals can really force one to feel sluggish, lazy, and lose motivation. I did not fall off the bandwagon completely, but I did eat way more than usual and did very close to nothing yesterday except my push-ups.
Today I woke up still quite sore from my 16 mile run and very tired. I did not run in the morning as planned, but did find myself lounging around snacking and not very motivated. Finally, I snapped out of it and posted a blog entry and got my butt outside to run. It was hot as it was 3:30 in the afternoon.
I had a 3 mile easy run scheduled for today that should have been ran yesterday. I started off and my body hurt. I needed the heat and sweat to work out some soreness in my legs and joints. After about .25 mile I decided that I today would be a good day to push a little bit to see what I have in the tank for the race Saturday. If you read my previous post I have a goal of running the 4 mile race in 27 minutes. I feel good about it, but today has me nervous.
I ran the first mile in 7:05 and actually I am surprised I ran this fast considering how sore my body felt. I ran the second mile in 6:34 and realized about 3/4 of the way through that I was cruising and there was no way I could sustain this rate. Mile three left me at 6:44 mile pace adding 10 seconds to my time. I finished the 3 mile run in 20:32 which I believe is my fastest run time at this point in time in my training. However, this has me nervous as if this was race day I would have to run a 6:28 mile four and there was next to nothing left in my tank when I finished these three miles.
I am going to have to dig down deep to find some serious strength and courage to accomplish my goal. I also know that hopefully my body will be feeling much better come Saturday. I need a good mile 1 start to the race. I need to make sure I don’t get out too fast. My heart rate was not terrible coming in around 163-167 the last two miles. If I use the old formula of 220 – age = MHR, then that puts me at 190 and 165 is about 87% of my MHR. I hope I can sustain that for 4 miles. We will see.
I have three days to get some good runs, complete some push-ups, knock out a TRX workout or two, and nourish the body with good healthy eating. I need to dial my weight down back to where I was before the 4th and be ready to roll. I am also thinking about putting tape over my watch so I cannot look at my time splits. For some reason I play mind games with myself when I am either running faster or slower than I expect. Not knowing might be my best bet, but I want it on so it can be recorded into my Garmin software. This might be the key ingredient.
Get It Done!
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