The Sprinting Snail

8 mile run

As you may have guessed, I didn't get up early to run. I did have every intention to, but since I had eaten way too much last night, I woke up still feeling really full, which is definitely not the way to start a run. I actually felt a little sick (too much dessert) and ended up going back to sleep for a bit and figured I try and squeeze something in at lunch. I wasn't really sure that I'd be able to do 11 anyhow, especially after the long course run - I was only just starting to be able to walk again. I was hoping I could get through 9.

Work turned out to be crazy. My calendar was booked from 10 until 4:15 (this includes the 1.5 hrs I scheduled for my run). Naturally my last meeting before lunch ran long and I got off to a late start. Since I had meetings all afternoon, I couldn't really dawdle. I decided to shoot for 8 and depending on time, could add another half mile out and back once I got back to work. I know, doubtful, but that's what I had to tell myself. I had 4x1 minutes hard with full rest and then 2.5 miles Z4. My 1 minute "sprints" went better than the last time. I decided not to focus on my HR since it never seems to get to Z4 or Z5 until after I stop and just attempt to sprint. With the Olympics in full swing, it was hard for me to bring myself to call it a sprint since it clearly was not anything close. So it was just 1 minute hard. 1 minute is a long time. But I got through them.

The Z4 was a little harder since I was already starting to feel my quads again. I didn't feel completely recovered from Sunday to be able to hold a faster pace for longer than a minute. So I just took a half mile at a time. I'm getting better - I didn't start off the Z4 too hard so I didn't feel like I was going to die after a few minutes. Instead I just felt like my quads were going to strangle me. My hamstring was also tightening up, but I've gotten pretty good at ignoring that. I took full advantage of Z2 for the rest of the run, even though it was about a snail's pace. The Z4's were all at an 8 min. pace, so I could handle being a snail for a few miles.