It's over, man. Let her go.

I had a couple of rough ones this week too. What helps me sometimes (mentally and physically) is to start off really slow and pick it up a little each mile; when I do it the other way around I'm miserable. Next week my goal is to force myself to do outdoor runs with slow first miles. It's so much more enjoyable that way, even though it feels like you're going way too slow at first.

Thanks, Joe. I definitely have started out a couple of my runs (yesterday & today for sure) at a slow pace with just the goal of going a good distance. I figured that if I ran at a 9:00-9:30 pace that I'd be able to cruise for a good distance. What I'm finding is that I'm tiring easily and it's not from my HR getting real high. Most of the time it's down in the low to maybe mid 150s. Usually, I'm up in the high 150s to low or mid 160s.

Today, the legs just felt really heavy and trying to get them going at a faster pace was tough. I think I do much better (more efficient, etc) at a faster pace - 8:30-8:15 but it just wasn't happening today. I think I should be able to run in those slower pace ranges without feeling like this, though.

I have until Sept 7 to sign up for the half. I have until the first to sign up for the Steeler 5k. I don't want to do the half unless I feel confident in my fitness level to run the whole thing. If I don't do the half, I'll do the 5k for a nice PR. Either way, I plan to do the 5mi trail race in November. After this, I'll be training for the 10-20mi race in January, so I'll definitely need some good mileage by then.

The first two halfs I've done, the longest runs I've done in training was 10 miles, and only once or so before. Lately, I've had a hard time just doing 6-7, which isn't very encouraging.

I'm going to give the ol' legs a rest over the weekend and I should be feeling better on Monday. I may not ride the bike at all next week and see if that helps me to run better. Doing both may just be wearing me out too much. I dunno.

Besides, when I ride down to work and run before coming home, the first 1/4mi I feel like I am just learning to run again. It's weird how my body remembers the biking motion and has to figure out how to move the legs for running, even after hours of being at work. It's like after you've skated for a couple of hours and take the skates off. It's weird.

Thanks for the encouragement! I think the negative split approach will be good for me as well. I've got to try that out this next week and I'll report back. Thanks!