AZ Run Dad

Not a great race today. I've been a little off lately physically and mentally and that came through today. Workouts have been tougher than they should be and a little bit of "why am I doing this" has been creeping in. Post marathon blues? I'm not sure but I'd like it to change it. Anyway, I got a good warm up in and the weather was great for running. 55 and cloudy.  My splits were 5:26, 5:25, 5:29, 5:29, 5:35, 5:32, and 1:12 for the last .25. I was 5th place and had people around me to help push. I never felt comfortable out there which is probably due to my weak mental attitude. I was thinking low to mid 33 going in so this is pretty far off. This is just a couple of seconds per mile faster than my half marathon in Nov. The course was fast and flat so I can't blame that. I hope things turn around but maybe I have just pushed a little too hard and too quickly post marathon. I wrote down 32:30 for my goal for this race at the beginning of the year. Maybe I was expecting too much. Time for some chili and cornbread and the first half of the Super Bowl. I won't be able to stay up much past that. 

AM: 6.25 miles very easy. No soreness which is good after racing yesterday.

PM: 4 more easy miles. Ran at Freestone Park on the way home from work. Incredible weather. No shirt for this one. Perfect.  

AM: 8.5 Easy miles including strides at the end. 

PM: 4 Easy miles at the park on the way home again. No shirt. AZ weather at its finest.

Legs feel good and it's been nice taking it easy. I started taking naproxen for my bursitis in my hip. I have a feeling that limping the first mile of every run may have been eating at my confidence without me thinking much about it. I've dealt with bursitis a lot and I always get rid of it fairly quickly. I just don't like to take anti-inflamitory medicine because it has been shown to slow down improvement. It's feeling better already. 

10 miles moderate with a push the last .6 for some excitement. 5:16 pace for that but felt like 5 flat pace. 

AM: Hilly Half Marathon today: 13.1 6:29 pace

Ran 3.5 miles from work up to the canal and 32nd then did 6 straight miles at marathon effort up and down the hill from the canal to Lincoln up 32nd St (125-130 ft over a mile). Splits were 6:18,5:55,6:08,5:47,6:08,5:37. Felt pretty good on those. Finished easy/moderate back to work and felt like I still had a lot of energy. This run helped me in a lot if different ways.

PM: 4.35 miles w/4 easy and 6 strides in the grass. Legs were tired from the morning session but it was another very enjoyable run with the perfect weather we've been having.

8.25 miles: a mini workout this morning. Warmed up 2.85 w/ drills and strides and threw on my Saucony A4s. I did 4 x 800 in 2:26,2:26,2:27,2:27 w/800 jogs on the road. They were pretty hard but it's good for me to sprinkle in some of the sub 5 stuff for a good speed foundation. This was probably 3k pace for me. I hope I can turn that into 5k pace in a couple months. Work to do!