One of those days when I'm tempted to bag this blog as I have little desire to report on what was the worst 5K I've run in years. I'm not even going to flag this one as a "race report" as it isn't even worthy of being called a good training run. This to top off one of the worst running weeks I've have for quite a while.
I had hoped at least the weather was going to be nice but this wasn't the case. It was obvious after the 1st mile (or even 1/2 mile) of the race that I was way off my game. I went out at a conservative 6:45 pace but was feeling lousy at less that a mile into the race. The best way I can describe it is kind of like hitting the wall in a marathon, but only after a mile into the run! I ended up not even being able to hold the 7:00 pace that we've been meeting or exceeding during Wed training runs (I think my ave pace ended up being around 7:10). So I suppose I'm officialy in a 'rut'. Also soon after I got home I ended up Saturday/Sunday battling fever, sore-throat, cough, etc. Suffice to say it was a lousy weekend and I must say daylight savings is not my friend so far.
Looking at what might explain the poor week I suppose there are plenty of possibilities. Most likely the 21-miler last week took a lot out of me and maybe weakened my immune system so that I was coming down with a cold/flu by Saturday. Also amidst all the hubbub of getting my boy into the MTC a week and a half ago I had a mild ulcer on Wednesday/Thursday (2/28-3/1). I get these occasionally when I'm under stress and/or I take Ibuprofen or Aspirin on an empty stomach. These ulcers are accompanied by a bit of blood in the stool. I recall a couple years ago when I did a fool thing and donated blood and then tried to run a 10K 3 days after. It was NOT good. In fact it took me 4-6 weeks to get my wind back after giving blood. I don't I lost much blood due to the ulcer but I wonder if it's a factor.
At any rate I think I better take it easy a bit this week and hope I have some stamina back by the weekend for the next 20 miler. Luckily I haven't yet signed up for the Rex Lee 10K on the 24th like I had originally planned. I think I'll bag the short races until after Boston. | 