Hamstrung

I had a horrible 28 mile run this morning. Got an email earlier this week from a friend with Round Rock Fit who needed to get her long Saturday run in early. I offered to run with her because it's so dark and lonely out there on the back roads, so we met up at 4:45am and got going for a nice 12.5 miles. She's slower than me, but I didn't mind adjusting my pace because I'd timed it to get back just in time to take my group out for their 25k benchmark. It was a very clear morning, we had a nice run and got back just in time to pick up my group and head back out.

I hadn't run that fast so I figured I would be able to power through, but I just didn't have the extra gear. I felt sluggish, and the further we went the more I just wanted the run to end. I had no problems keeping up with the guys, but I had to force myself to keep going ("you will not walk" my little voice kept repeating). I felt stiff, developed a niggling pain on the outside of my left foot and was just tired. Then, about 1/4 mile from the end I had to vault over a misthrown frisbee golf disc and felt a tweak in my hamstring. I yelled a few choice comments at the guys who threw the disc (none of which they really deserved) and kept going to finish out my run. I was done, in every sense of the word. I was drained, beat and just wanted to get home.

My buddy Tony came to the rescue with some coffee spiked with Baileys which really hit the spot, and we talked about our upcoming night out. Then I just hung around stretching the hamstring. Eventually I dragged myself to the car and drove home - I had to work hard not to fall asleep at the wheel.

Why did I have such a bad run? Why was I able to run a 50 miler with ease last Saturday, turn around and run a half marathon the following day with no ill effects, then this week struggle on a slow 28 miler. My overall pace wasn't bad (9:15) considering the first 12.5 miles was just under a 10 minute mile, but why did I feel so out-of-sorts? I guess it could be because I've been having trouble sleeping since Sunmart. I feel tired but it takes forever to fall asleep. I may also be a little dehydrated too which didn't help.

Still, there's one thing I've learnt about a bad run - know it for what it is. Sometimes you just have a bad run. So I'm going to chalk it up as such and forget about it. Tomorrow I will get up, hit some hills and see how I feel. In the meantime, I am going to go take a nap.