The Worst 6 Miles

Seriously, tonight's run was one of THE worst I've had in quite some time. I biked home, grabbed a small snack, uploaded my "Party Party Run" playlist to the ipod and headed out the door. <-- If you have any songs I should add, let me know!

Within the first few steps, I could tell my legs weren't quite happy with the plan I had for them. Really, I told myself as I was leaving that I just have to do 3-4 easy miles.

Well, I pushed on and my mile 2 I started wondering if today was not my day to run. Perhaps I should just stop and walk home? I nearly tripped when one of my feet skidded the pavement. I opted to walk for a minute or so and then picked it up again. Finally, by mile 3, the legs were starting to join the party, but they weren't by any means having FUN.

Luckily, I did an out and back, which is always my trick to get my miles in. I ran the rest of the way home because it gets me there faster than walking!

Splits
8:29 - 8:12 - 8:31 - 8:20 - 8:12 - 8: 13

8:23 avg pace
6.2 miles
*Oh and my Garmin even died in the last .1 mile of my run. Go figure.

I honestly have no clue how I was even running under 8:30s because my legs felt like lead. I'm thinking the issue with my legs tonight was a) they had lactic acid in them from the bike ride b) they're still tired from the weekend runs c) bike riding + running makes my legs feel heeeavy d) I'm simply physically and emotionally drained and that's my body's way of telling me or e) all of the above.

It's rare for me to have a terrible run so I'm definitely a bit perplexed when it happens. How often do you notice a terrible, no good, very bad run?

Coming up: a delicious meal I'm making tonight for din din! It involves cornbread and black beans.

Comments

Lindsey said…
I'm sorry your run tonight was bad! How was your knee feeling?

I can't even remember how often I used to have bad runs because it's been so long. But I do remember my really bad 16 miler that ended up causing my foot injury. The day I ran the 16 miles I was feeling tired, drained, and my legs were heavy. I should have cut the run short and taken a few days off.

Be careful! Even though it's hard to do, maybe you need a day off?
I tend to have one of those kind of runs every 4 weeks or so it seems. Most of the time, it has to do with me not getting enough sleep and being just spent emotionally and physically. Those runs are tough because you come home and you don't feel like a runner. Or at least that is how i feel after those kind of runs. But luckily they tend to be pretty few and far between and on days like that, I keep them really short and only do 3 miles because I mentally kick the crap out of myself on those bad runs, so the shorter they are, the better...
Ugh, I've actually had a few "bad" runs over the past two weeks - I can't totally figure out why, but I have a few sneaking suspisions that "under-resting" has a lot to do with it. That, and a lot of things that all happened at once!

Those splits would never tell the true story of how you felt, dang girl! ;) How's the knee feeling with all of this?


When I have days like this, I just take a day or two completely off of running. Bike, stretch, yoga, or just a nice night on the couch! I also take a multivitamin for a few days, just to cover the bases - and pay closer attention to protein intake (which may not be relevant here).

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