2 X 1.5 miles = Disaster, Part II

As I posted earlier, I ran like crap today. I have theories as to why I did so allow me to set the stage.

First of all, I've not been getting a lot of sleep. Nathan seems to think that 0330 is this season's 0600. I could have set my watch by the kid this week because he let out a yell at 0330 every morning. Only once did he not go back to sleep but when you get a 0330 wake-up call every morning you start waking up at that time whether there is a reason to or not.

Second possible reason I ran like ass today, I've been running very stupid on my recovery days. Wednesday morning I got out of bed at 0430 (since I had been awake since 0330) and ran my easy six miles. I felt pretty good but because it was dark still I had no frame of reference to tell how fast I was really going. I hit my first mile in a blazing fast 8:27 and I picked it up a bit the second mile. Again, the darkness gave me no frame of reference as to my actual speed and I felt good but I ran my next two miles in 7:40 and 7:57. Easy pace is 8:01. 7:40 is not Easy pace. I regrouped and ran 8:03, 8:00 and 8:10 to close it out in 48:09. I was happy with that but I told myself that I was not allowed anymore 7:40 miles on Easy runs the rest of the year.

Friday afternoon I got home from work and set out for another easy six miles. I brought the iPod along with my Modest Mouse and Against Me! and blazed my way to 7:45 and 7:48 mile splits to open up my easy day. Through a titanic act of self control I slowed my next two miles to 8:19 each but had another mental lapse that caused me to torch mile five in 7:47. I pulled up for an 8:02 to close out the run with a total time of 48:03 but I find that I'm a much more rested runner when I actually run an even pace that is slightly slower than what my Easy pace calls for.

This morning I awoke at 0530 for no particular reason. It was a good thing that I did because Nathan woke up at 0535. I skipped the coffee and breakfast this morning (which might be the third reason I ran like shit today) and instead drank some water and watched "The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and "Handy Manny" with my boy. Kim got out of bed around 0800 and I started my run not too long after that.

I warmed up with a mile in 8:09 and a mile of strides in 7:44. I took about 4:30 after that to stretch and run into the house to hit my albuterol inhaler as my hay fever was making it hard to breathe. After stretching and getting my fix I started the first of my reps. I was right on pace at the half mile mark but must have got a bit excited that next half as I hit the mile mark in 6:20.10. I felt heavy all through my warm-up and after hitting the mile six seconds ahead of schedule I made myself slow down the last half to cruise into the finish in 3:15.54 for a total time of 9:35.64 for rep number one.

I took two minutes to walk around and recover before starting rep number two and I just couldn't seem to suck in a deep breath and fill my lungs. When my two minutes were up I bolted to the half mile mark in 3:10.22. Upon seeing that all the wind left my sails and not even two cute girls on bikes heading the opposite direction could make me puff up my chest and act like I was a stud effortlessly running a workout.

As the second rep drug along I could feel my turnover slow, my arms creep up and my breathing grow more labored. I made it my goal to try to sneak under 10:00 but in the end I didn't even have enough energy to do that as I ran the last mile in 6:52.69 for a total time of 10:02.91.

The finish line for rep number two was at the entrance to the west parking lot of Glenwood High School and I laid on the sidewalk for 3:31 before making myself run a three mile cool-down in 25:40 with splits of 8:47, 8:42 and 8:11.

I'm thinking that the next time I do this workout that I might do it on the track so I can closely monitor my lap times to avoid blowing myself out early. I don't seem to have the sense of pace that I had last year and it is worrying me quite a bit, especially with a 10K coming up in about three weeks. Running too fast the first two miles of a 10K tends to result in a world of pain the last 4.2.