Somedays, you just know something is going to hurt, and other days you don’t. I thought today would be just another “run” and be consistent with other recent runs. Sadly, it was much less than that. But it was still something.
I felt oddly good running down the main path toward the trails and noticed that my periods running were longer than in the past. The thing is, while running, I apparently wasn’t moving that fast, and my first mile time was fairly poor compared to previous “runs.” There was much sadness.
I can’t remember running the loop I did today in the past, and I found myself going uphill way more than downhill, and when I did get to a downhill, I would find myself tired and taking extra caution to avoid a tumble.
I felt great at times, but they were few and far between and I ended up doing too much lumbering over the 4.73 miles and finished with a dismal time of 1:01:15. Which I would have been happy with if I had done my 5-loop, but for as hard as my perceived effort was, this was bullshit.
It’s Not Rocket Science, It’s Bro Science
Looking back through my files, it seems that on the days I run after longer lumber, such as yesterday’s 6-mile loop, my legs seem to be unsurprisingly heavy and tired. However, the runs after a short lumber or a day off are, of course, faster. Who would have thought? Gahdamnit, I know better!
I also noticed that my heart rate zones were nearly split even between Zone 2 and 3 today, and that is WAY off from previous “faster” runs, where I’m mostly in Zone 3 and 4. Another sign was that I was tired.
In hindsight, I should have kept to my regular schedule this week instead of pushing to do four efforts in a row that included two runs. C’est la vie.
It’s all part of the process, and days like today are gentle reminders that I am new to this running thing and that I am 53 years old. However, I would rather be 53 and be shit at running than 53 and not be able to do it at all, so I’m giving myself a hard pass on a bad day, happy with 22.25 miles in four days, and looking forward to some easy miles on Saturday followed by resting on Sunday.
As for now, I’m going to enjoy sore quads for the rest of the day as a souvenir from another week spent pushing myself.
Photos were taken while panting heavily and sweating all over myself with the old and tiny Canon s95.
Later.