Sunday Training (10 mile run)

Down to circumstances, I delayed the booze ban by 24hrs as an old friend got in touch last night as she needed a shoulder to cry on and of course, I couldnt turn down a lady in distress.  5 pints later...hmm, not perfect preparation for a 10 mile run on Sunday morning that I had planned.

So I delayed it until around 3pm this afternoon.

It was a mistake full stop.  I was awful.

The thing with distance running, or running of any kind, half the battle is in the head.  Well it is for me.  I just wasnt up for it at all.  I didnt feel comfortable from the start.  My bottle belt felt too tight, my breathing didnt feel natural and was all over the shop, it was just one nagging thing after another.  Then the doubts start and you wonder what the hell is going on.

The first mile was slow.  9:07.  Not disasterous but I know I can run that first mile quicker than that. Second mile much more like it at 8:37 but its slightly downhill so still a little bit slower than I normally am but then when the third mile registered as 9:01, the fourth 9:30 and the fifth 9:41, I knew I was struggling.  I was slowing down big time.  As I hit half way, my average pace was around 9:20 min/mile and that is seriously slow for me.  I tried hard to up the pace but I found I had nothing left in the tank.  It was then all about survival to get home.

My pace was dropping and dropping.  The last two miles was over 10 min/mile pace which I havent run in the last 18 months.  The shame.

I made it home.  The legs felt ok with no cramps but they had absolutely nothing left in them.  It was scary.  From halfway, it was a mental battle and I was losing it.  Thought were wandering everywhere, things that were annoying me, my non-existant love life, Izzy, a nice front garden I saw, who the next Spurs manager is going to be...almost everything other than concentrating on the run.

Looking back at the training schedule, my only rest day in the last week was on Wednesday...and that was the Santa run.  I still ran that night.  It was about 8 miles in the end.  So I've had a hard week.  I've also drank like a gold fish.  Not good.  As I write now at 9:30 on Sunday evening, I feel like I'm coming down with a cold so a combination of all three things and the run was going to be awful today.

The only thing I can do now is write this run off as a one-off, take a few days rest now I've got Izzy (that was the plan anyhow) and see if I do actually come down with anything.  After the Santa run, it really wouldnt be a surprise if I did come down with something so we'll have to wait and see.

Onwards and upwards.