Sometimes I don't always go about things in the smartest way :) I took Monday off this week because I was home visiting family, we were having fun, and I assumed mileage would be 65-70 or at least the option of 70-75 this week and that I could easily get that in with one double while taking a rest day Monday. Wake up Tuesday morning to find out it is 75 for the week. Oops! So that leaves me with some mileage to squeak into the schedule this week and I decided I would add a mile or two extra to the track and tempo days and do doubles Wednesday and Thursday since I run early AM I could get in some easy evening miles without staying up too too late.
It has been a bit of a struggle doing the Tuesday track night workouts and getting downtown by 6:30 am for my morning easy miles. I barely get in 7-8 hours of sleep and I am pretty groggy and still pretty toasted from the track effort. I thought an easy evening run would be all right, and it felt pretty good to get out for some easy trail miles. But I think it was just a bit too much to expect to be able to recover from a hard Tuesday evening session, double on Wednesday, and be up and ready for a tempo effort by 6 am this morning. (Which is a bit of a bummer because I was kind of hoping to start doing easy trail runs Wednesday nights when mileage gets higher, might have to switch that to Thursdays post tempo if I want to continue with morning tempos)
I struggled on the warm up and just could not keep up on the first two tempo miles this morning. Goal was 6 miles with the 3rd and 6th mile at 6:15 and the rest at 6:20. After a 6:21 and a 6:27 followed by .25 miles at over 6:30 I bagged it. For whatever reason it just wasn't happening this morning. My legs didn't feel bad, I just didn't have any power, and no mental prowess to power through. I knew Salty and NC were tempo-ing this evening so I asked coach if I should just bag it or if I should try again. I needed to get in more miles anyways and he agreed I should try again.
Apparently I needed to be relaxed, but not quite as relaxed as I was this morning to get things done. I think I have been a little nonchalant about these tempos lately because in my head the paces aren't that fast, but the truth is they are still hard and I should know better. After a hard track effort Tuesday I should have known I needed to gear up properly for this workout rather than thinking I could skate through.
Throughout the day I reminded myself that I wanted to do the workout well, and though it wasn't the end of the world if my body said no, I knew my body could do better if I provided it with the proper tools to get it done. Pandora aptly played one of my favorite jazzy tunes "I'm Feeling Good" as performed by Michael Buble, and it reminded me that for the most part I have been feeling pretty good lately so I should just suck it up and get it done tonight :)
So I did my best to rally by eating better today and focusing on getting in more calories and hydration. Took two salt pills to make sure my electrolytes were up, took a quick cold shower to freshen up the legs, put up the legs for a few minutes and did some relaxation breathing and visualized a successful tempo. Worked up a mantra for the run of "I achieve when I believe," put on my fast twitch shoes instead of my clunkers I wore this morning, took a roctane gu for a little caffeine boost before starting our warm up, and listened to some pump me up music before getting started.
Armed with my mental soundtrack of my mantra for the first three miles mixed in with Rhianna's Breakin' Dishes the last three miles, and joined by my trusty sidekicks NC and Salty I managed to get the workout done tonight, and felt worlds better than this morning. Still can't keep up with NC, but I hit the goal paces, and really felt pretty smooth other than the last mile. Not sure where that fourth mile came from, I was relaxed but it just wanted to be a fast one I guess :)
6:17
6:21
6:13
6:10
6:17
6:04
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