Some Runs Are Just Humbling

So there I was, meeting some friends for an early morning run. I was happy to meet and run with some other runners. Except that I knew within the first mile that I was 'in trouble'. Everything felt hard - too hard. My legs were way too heavy. My breathing was so so and the pace was not fast. It was simply 'me'.  I was having an off day.

My road runs lately have been less than stellar. But I really didn't think I'd tank this bad on a run. I called it. "I gotta walk. Ya'll go ahead". Even if you are running with friends that you know well - I personally still don't want to be the one that brings everyone to a screeching halt. I was told they didn't mind, but I couldn't get the nagging voice out of my head that maybe they did mind a little but was just walking with me to be nice.

6 solid miles were done.

But as the day went on
that run was bugging me more and more. Have I really lost it? My edge... not that I was by any means super fast.. but lately my road runs and treadmill runs have been a lot more walk than I feel happy about.

So about 5pm, I knew that Lil Man wanted to watch TV. We went downstairs to the basement, and he watched TV while I planned to run 3 miles STRAIGHT.

I always run at a 1% incline unless I'm doing a hill workout. I ran the first 1.5 miles at a 10 minute per mile pace, and then I started bumping up the pace. I kept it at 9:22 for about 3/4 of a mile. Then I ran the last in the low 8's until I hit 3 miles.

It is so true. Those bad humbling runs do make the good runs that much sweeter. And I do always learn something from those humbling runs. I usually don't eat before my morning runs, and I think I needed some fuel. I also need to make sure that I'm working on consistency when it comes to paces.

There is always a choice.. you can let those humbling runs beat you down.. or you can learn from them... 

 

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