The ankle feels better today. Brock and I ran 3 miles this morning. It was foggy and slippery out so we cut it short. What strange weather we’re having. My legs felt really heavy and I was slow. I am really slow lately ya’ll and I hate it. I feel like I have just been constantly plagued with heavy legs and sore feet. I can’t manage to do speedwork to save my life. I don’t get it. I’m sure the obvious thing someone would say is that I am overtraining, but there is no way. I’m only running 25-30 miles a week and getting 1-2 bikes and 1-2 swims in right now. My workout schedule is not as heavy as it has been or as heavy as it should be or will be when I start HIM training in a few weeks. I guess the only thing that has really changed in all of this is the pain in my arches. So, it could be wrapped up in that. Or maybe it’s just the weather. Who knows. All I know is I am s-l-o-w for me and I hate it. But bottom line is that I will be happy if I can maintain a 10 min mile at Cincinnati and the 30K and 15K were both done a little under 10 min miles. Maybe my real problem is that I am not doing my long runs slow enough? I have been running them all 9:30 – 10 min miles, which is really my marathon pace. I think I will focus on slowing it down for my next long runs, minus the Just a Short Run 30K at the end of the month. I have high hopes that once it gets warmer and I peel off some layers I will magically be able to run faster! Magically! Now my real dilemma is if I should do St.Malachi’s on Sat. I have a 16 miler scheduled for Sunday. The 5 miler doesn’t fit into my training at all, but I can cut my Thurs run back a few miles. I just wonder if I should worry about a race right now as slow as I have been. Will I run it a time worse than last year and make myself feel bad!?! I guess I’ll see how the feet/legs feel. Need to sign up by Thurs though so I can do it online for $17 instead of paying $25 race day. I would just skip it, but everyone I know is doing it and there is beer afterwards. I like beer. Of course I’ll have a long run looming over me for the next day, so I can only have 1 beer.
We went and saw Semi Pro last night. I know, I know, who pays to go see a movie like that. But Clevleland Cinemas has $5 monday's and you get free popcorn. We like free things. So, we went and I like Will Ferral. Old School is one of my favs and I even like some of his stupider fare like Ladies Man, but this movie just blew. It wasn't funny in any way shape or form, don't bother even renting it. Booo, I wanted to see 10,000BC, but my sister said it was the worst movie she had ever seen in her life. I have only walked out of one movie ever and that was Battlefield Earth, in case you were wondering.
Tonight I was going to hit a master’s swim class for the first time, but my shoulders are really pinched and sore from the shoveling, so I think I will swim myself tonight and take it slow and give the master’s class a go on Thurs. I am REALLY nervous to go to one. Now that I have done 3000 yards, I think I can hang, but I am slow and I don’t know the drills. I’m sure I’ll learn quickly, but it’s always weird to go to these kinds of things for the first time.
8 comments:
You know what? Based on what I've been following, you've gone through A LOT in the last couple of months and you may feel slower because of some of the emotional turmoil you've been digging through. That certainly has an effect on your physical output. Of course, the weather also has a TON to do with it. It's probably next to impossible to be motivated and exciting to run fast when you're dodging snowflakes and ice. Just wait until you see that first peak of Spring sunshine. That spring in your step will return.
I don't have a lot of experience on the overtraining/sluggishness (yet), but I can definitely say that you don't have to fret about Masters.
I just joined out of the blue -- hadn't been in a pool for years -- and it was absolutely doable.
I'm not normally a group training type, so I'm surprised how much I'm liking the structured workouts and coaching.
Love your blog by the way -- it's been helpful reading your newbie thoughts (I'm newer than newbie, so you're a step ahead of someone ;)
Previous comment could be on to something there.
If you're questioning overtraining, you should see a change in the base phase of your HIM training. If it goes away, you may be overtraining.
Remember that you don't get faster or stronger *during* the workout, but in the *recovery* after.
Kind of funny I also ran today after my ankle injury. Felt great although it's still sore and puffy.
As for the movie, I'll make sure I don't download it. My buddy forced us to see battlefield earth and hyped it so much. To this day I'll never let him forget it. We even took our wives with us to see this epic movie. We sat through the whole thing waiting for it to get decent.
On your training, maybe you're just waiting for spring and are sick of this crappy weather. Hopefully that's the case anyway.
have fun at the masters, can't wait to hear how it goes!
carrie and hollywood are right, resting is just as important as the training and SOOO much has been going on for you lately. if you're dead set on the malachi, maybe do the 2 mile as a recovery? you don't have to go out and PR every time.
plus, remember you're words of advice to me, focus only on the #1 race and that is your HIM, so the rest is all secondary. :)
Good luck with your master's swim class!
It's great that your ankle is feeling better today!
Good luck with your swim class. (And thanks for the site you mentioned to me; it looks great!)
Hey Mon, are you paying attention to your heart rate? At this point in your training all of your workouts should be in zone 1-2. If it's getting above there then you may actually be over training and could explain the sluggishness. One of the most frusterating things about training for these things is the slow pace you have to keep to keep your HR down. But it pays off in the end. :) As a reference point, in both my HIM my HR average was 145-zone 3 and during the IM it was 130-low zone 2. Hope that helps ;-) Chelsea
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