per plan, this run was supposed to be a race. i didn't have a local race on this date, so as usual i planned to just run my own "race". I have been running for 42 weeks. I have over 830 miles under my feet in those weeks. i have been training hard, and i am feeling good and i have been making all sorts of speed gains. I was so ready to set myself a new half marathon PR and show that my training is really working. and then I failed. I was slower than my half PR by 6 minutes (moving time) and 13 minutes (elapsed time). this is really disappointing.
now, keep in mind my PR was set on a cool, lightly raining early spring day in the pacific northwest. ideal conditions. this time, it was over 80 degrees when I left the house, and it was pretty humid. I know that i cannot expect peak performance when the conditions are oppressive. but that feels like an excuse. my whole run, i kept saying to myself this wasn't so bad, just think of those guys running the Badwater (135 mile ultramarathon through death valley in mid-summer). this is easy, just 13.1 miles in SC, and at least my shoes aren't melting to the pavement. I should be able to just knock this out. But it was bad, and I have no metric or conversion factor to account for the environmental conditions. I can only directly compare pace and time. and by that comparison, i failed. not only is it frustrating, but it also casts doubt on my whole plan and performance. screw south carolina. i wish i wasn't feeling bad about this, but i am. I am reminded of the comic The Oatmeal when he described a run in Japan that was terrible. although I didn't have any wasps (just heat and humidity), i imagined myself as godzilla, leaving, flipping the double bird to South Carolina.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/running5
in addition, my heel/arch has flared up again. felt great for some time now, and after this run i was limping. argh. travel, then a day of rest, and then another big miles week coming. 43 mile week coming up, and I'm feeling grim about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment