Alright so I’m a terrible blog-keeper-upper. I apologize. Perhaps my plan to start training for an ultramarathon and keep up a blog at the same time I was planning a wedding and plotting a career change weren’t the smartest combination of things to take on.
So a brief update: I am married, so that is fun. Actually it’s the same great relationship it always was. Now we just wear super-hero rings. I didn’t end up running the ultra due partly to trying to rush my training and developing Achilles tendinitis and due partly to being a wuss. But I persevere. I’ll get there, it will just take some time.
Where I’m At
Just because I haven’t been keeping up the blog doesn’t mean I haven’t been running. In fact a couple weeks ago I set a new PB for 10K of 47:29. I’m definitely no Scott Jurek, but I’m proud of that run.
Last week was a bad one for fitness in general. I had a lot of work to do for my master’s thesis (environmental management… I’m an outdoor geek) so I didn’t run at all until Saturday when I did 10K with my wife. Slow pace. Fun times. Feeling confident I decided to head out yesterday for a leisurely 10 miles.
If you clicked that link, you know it didn’t go terribly well. The trouble with my way of training is that I set goals and when there is even a slight chance of surpassing them I push too hard. Out of the gate I was planning a 5:25/km pace and was slightly ahead of the game at 5:11 for the first km. After that the goal became to try to hold that pace. In the end I finished with an overall pace of 5:19/km and I paid for it.
Less than 10K in I was wanting to walk, a very bad sign. I managed to push through but when I got off the trail and onto the road for the home stretch it was little more than a painful shuffle. It wasn’t fun, I didn’t feel awesome afterwards, I deem it a failure. My goal when I go running is to feel good and that didn’t happen. Better luck next time, I suppose.
I don’t think food or hydration were the problem. I had a nice salmon and vegetable dinner the night before, a fruit smoothie for breakfast, and a couple vegetarian chili burritos for lunch before setting out. The one issue might have been running on a full stomach, so I’ll try to avoid that next time.
In the end, I’m glad I upped my distance and I will keep trying 10 milers until they start to feel better. For today though I am resting worn out legs.
Feature image via flickr… Not the actual trail I run on
Yelling at the Moon 