Yesterday's run

Last night, I ran to my meeting about forming a new USATF club. I knew it was going to be a tough run just because of the elevation profile. It started with two easy, mostly downhill miles. Then, straight uphill, sometimes steeply, for almost 2 miles. On the way to the meeting, I was a little bit early, so I ran an extra mile around the college campus. So, I ended up with nine hilly miles for the day.

It was interesting running the day after my first bike ride of the year. I didn't feel beat up, but my legs felt tired in a very non-specific way. I would look at my Garmin on easier stretches and see that I was running an 8:30 pace, yet it felt like I was barely moving. I guess it's better that I was moving at an 8:30 pace than a 10:30 pace, but it was an odd sensation having actual and perceived pace be so different.

When I got home, I cooked a birthday dinner for my daughter, who turned 11 yesterday. By the time we were done eating, I was ready for bed. I was physically exhausted.

My plan for today was to lift in the morning and do an easy bike ride at night. Then, I was going to run an easy 5 tomorrow before running 50K on Sunday. But, when the alarm went off, I was exhausted. During the night, I'd had a dream that I was running a race in tight runner traffic. At one point, I decided to create some room by throwing a left elbow at another runner. Regretfully, I did it in real life as well, and I threw my MP3 player and my reading glasses and a book across the room. The noise woke me up and woke up my wife. It was kind of funny, but I wonder if I worked too hard in my dream, and I was still beat from that race this morning.

Anyway, I slept in today. I said recently that I'm going to change my training, as needed, to be more focused on running and not as much on lifting or other cross-training. This will be my first 50+ mile week of the year, and I want to be somewhat rested on Sunday. So, no lifting this morning and I won't ride tonight. I think I'm going to do the easy 5 mile run I'd planned for tomorrow when I get home tonight. Today is going to be a beautiful day and it's going to rain a bit tomorrow. So, after work, I'll do some running with my wife and with our dogs. Then, I'll rest until the race on Sunday.

Ten weeks until the real race day. That means 7 or so more weeks of real training. I plan to run 50K or longer 3 times in that time period, and I plan a few more big hill days. I'm behind schedule on my tempo work. I wish the race was in September, but I'll be ready by June.