Sunday, April 11, 2010

Slow and Steady

I had a pretty ordinary run today. I had to really talk myself into getting out of bed. I'd had a bad night's sleep and it was raining but it was pretty warm. All-iin-all not good running conditions. But 'good me' won out over 'evil me' and I got up, dressed and out on the road.

The legs were still a bit heavy from Saturday's hot, horrible 16. I had a 10k listed so I decided on my route and set my Garmin to just show heart rate and off I went. My aim was NOT time but keeping my HR low. It's a different feeling running slow. There's no lightness. It feels like I'm holding back and almost plodding. But I kept to my purpose and took regular peeks at the watch. 10k later and success! My average HR for the run was 154 - way better than the 170 of Saturday's run.

Since the run I've been feeling a bit tired. It's so hard not to be a hypochondriac after overtraining syndrome. I find I'm constantly monitoring myself - am I tired? is this a normal tired or something more? am I making excuses not to run? should I be taking the day off and resting? I'm constantly second-guessing myself and at times it's frustrating but I don't feel like I'm far enough along with recovery that I can afford not to be vigilant. I'm keeping obsessive records - HR, distance, temperature etc so I can compare and watch my progress and that's reassuring.

Sorry for the boring post. Writing things down seems to help me process better.

4 comments:

  1. Totally understand wanting to write things down... I hope you find the answers you need.

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  2. I'd be extra vigilant too. Hope your body continues to do well with the running.

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  3. You seem to know a lot about running and all it's aspects. Have you been running a long time?

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  4. I like your new blog, orange is my favorite color! Sounds like you're in a lull but that's okay...those are always followed by good running and events. Hang in there!

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