Resting HR: 43
Was planning on 10 miles easy to cap off my fatigued week at 40 miles keeping some road on my bones. 1.5 miles in at a slow 9:25 min/mi AP, the alarms went off in my head and I shut down. The slow pace did not feel comfortable and I couldn't stomach sustaining that for 10 miles, while not enjoying the run. I went into panick mode and called my fiance and discussed how it seems like I'm just not enjoying running anymore. It's true. It seems I have been waiting for something to kick in, for a switch to spontaneously flip and then things will be easier. I decided to walk home. I hate running 9:25s and it just makes my hamstrings hurt.
Then I had an epiphany. What I enjoyed about my training in Feb/March was the rush of doing intervals on the treadmill and track and feeling exhilirated the rest of the day. I have only done 1 session of 10x1 min on/off since April and no other interval sessions since April! My first few tempo runs went well, but then they started feeling so exhausting to do repeatedly for that length of time (35+ minutes).
I decided to grab for one last straw on my walk back home. I wanted to repeat a super old workout from the Runner's World Intermediate training plan: 1 mile MP, 400 m recovery, 2x800 m @ 10k with 200 m recoveries, 4x200 m @ 5k with 200 m recoveries. I went to the treadmill I had trainined on during the winter when training was fun and the roads were slick with ice and snow. I did a 0.5 mile wu, then went for the workout. The first mile: 7:41 it felt harder than when I did 10 miles of that pace a few weeks ago, my chest felt constricted but I kept going. Then the 0.5 mile repeats were at 6:53 min/mi pace which is the fastest/longest I've done since April. I thougth the last sets were 400s but kept my phone on with the workout and was kinda shocked I only had 200s left. I hit those: 6:39, 6:37, 6:31, 6:22 min/mi pace. I actually was trying to think of other intervals to through in there because I had more in the tank.
At this point I'm really confused with what's going on with my body. The fatigue was truly there, not mental and I still feel it a bit. Don't think I'm crazy, but I have this two system energy theory. Do we have an endurance system and a speed system? I know I have probably worked my endurance system to death with all the cross-training and low intensity runs. It seems like my speed system is ready to be worked.
I don't know if that's possible. My new strategy is to forget about the Philadelphia Marathon. I plan on forgetting about my mileage and start throwing back in more interval speed/tempo running and just find the fun again. I wasn't so bummed about my stress fracture initially because the fun for me was the training I was able to do.
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