After a very long exhausting day at work on Sunday, which included 50 flights of stairs, I decided to skip my 2 mile EB run, knowing that I was going to try and get up early this morning to get my 5k "race" in.
Alarm went off at 0300, at which time I looked at the weather on my phone. 48 and clear. Perfect for a PR attempt! Checked out what the forecast was for today, 72 and sunny this afternoon.... HMMMMM... decisions decisions. Sleep another hour and run in the sun? OR get up and get after it. I chose to get up and go! Went in and got my stretching done. Feeling pretty good physically! But mentally I'm
really questioning my abilities.
I had programmed my Garmin for a 1 mile WU. After 10 min or so, I was feeling pretty good and warm. Double tap on the screen and I'm off like a heard of turtles! First mile - 8:54.7, not too bad. Just a smidge slow. Just past 1 mile, I decide to walk a few. Roughly 30 sec walk and I'm back to running. Second mile, 8:57, crap... that's getting slower! Just past 2 miles, another 40 sec walk dang it... . Third mile, 8:52.7, last .11 @8:38 pace.
Slow jog home.... time for reflection.
So I missed my goal by 7.7 sec.
But I also ran a PR of 27:39.7!!
Obviously, walking cost me overall. Seemed like I needed it at the time.
100% sure this is a mental issue for me.
I really feel like I can't get a good rhythm going with my breathing. I'm breathing pretty hard during these paces which I'm not really used to. Most of my easy and long runs, I don't even worry about breathing because it doesn't really become an issue.
Also, I wonder how a real race might have been different. At 0345, there's no crowds, no other runners, no cheering. Just me inside my brain and darkness.
This was a VERY short condensed training plan. I needed a goal and reached out to Billy for help. The training plan was fun! Challenging and only 5 weeks long. I think that if I'd stretched this out to say maybe an 8 week plan, I might have been able to accomplish the goal. I'm confident that with more training I can probably shave those 7.7 seconds off and complete the run without walking.
What's next? Wednesday, I'll do 3 miles at EA, then Thursday I fly off to St. Louis for a week to visit my family and hopefully see some old friends. Plan while in MO is to probably run every other day for 3 miles at EA and maybe throw in an EB run at some point. Then upon return, I think it's going to be time to get a plan for DW and myself to get her through Princess weekend!! AND maybe somehow shave those 7.7 seconds off for another 5k PR attempt.
Wrapping this up. I feel great about the PR!! But, I'm a little bummed about those 7.7 seconds and the walking.... Going to try and focus on all the good that came from this plan! I'm still alive, I feel great! It was awesome to have a goal to shoot for again!! As always thanks for the HELP Billy
@DopeyBadger !!