LM warmup (10 reps), 12 miles in 1:32:11, 7:37/mi, HR 164, w/ 2 mile warmup, 2 x Drills, 6 x Strides, 8 miles (un-)Steady State (7:18, 7:46, 7:57, 8:02, 8:03 uphill, 7:11, 6:33, 6:37 downhill), 2 mile cooldown & stretching. Partly cloudy & wet (60s). Yesterday was a wash....fence guys showed up again to sink the gate posts in concrete. Plus, it rained all day yesterday so my enthusiasm for running was.....low. Figured I'd count yesterday as a rest day and move up my next hard workout from Thursday to today, which meant 12 miles with the middle 8 at ~ marathon effort. Warmup was okay, but I felt a bit discombobulated. Felt like my leg muscles were firing at the wrong times, tensing when they should've been relaxing, tightening up, etc. Made it through the drills after a quick potty break but I noticed the strides weren't all that quick and took more effort than monday. A quarter mile into the Steady State and I knew it was an off day, but I pushed ahead. An ugly 8 miles later after a couple of short "regain composure" pauses, one semi-brief chat with a neighbor about some strange hunters parked along the road, and one additional potty break, I started the 2-mile cooldown-and-limp-back-home portion of the run. Completely unspectacular. Just not there today and not sure why. I felt dehydrated quickly during the run, but have been hydrating well the past few days. I was a bit hungry before I took off, but didn't want to eat for fear of the GI monster, so perhaps that was a contributing factor. In any event, I'll book this workout again for next week and hope it goes smoother next time. | 