Busted

I spend a good portion of my drive time home thinking about the run I will be doing when I get there. I already know the mileage to cover, I just have to decide what route I want to take. Today was no different.

Friday was a planned rest day, but because of my weekend plans I was considering moving the rest day to Sunday. I was even thinking of taking today off as well. I mentioned last week that Thursday is my long day. By the end of the day I'm tired. A day off sounded like not such a bad idea. I was thinking about my training in January. I've had a pretty good month. My mileage came in at 162.6, not the highest ever but right up there in the top 5. I had completed 3 weeks of 6 day/week runs and was well on my way through the fourth week. I had run 26 of 31 days, an 84% completion rate. I'd even added track workouts back into the mix.

I had been talking to my wife on the cell on the way home and we talked some more when I got home. All of a sudden she said, "I know why you don't feel like running today. It's track day!" Ah, she knows me well. I had put the track off on Tuesday due to the rain. I had no real excuse today. I was shamed into getting out there and over to the track by my non-running wife.

So I got ready to go but I had already decided that if the first 400 sucked, I would give it one more and then if it still sucked I would call it a day. Not exactly the best attitude going in but...

I made it over to the track after a 2 mile warm up. I hit the starting line and off I went. The first 400 came in at 1:43:54, not exactly stellar, but it didn't totally suck so I held my ground at the track. The second 400 came in at 1:41:77. Dang it all, it still didn't suck. I guess I was in for the long haul.

During my recovering lap I entertained the idea of going for an 800. It must be that elusive runner's high. How else do you explain going from "I think I'll take a day off" to "Let's try an 800." The 800 felt better than I expected it to. I got it done in 3:34:05 and didn't fall on my face at the end. My target pace for 800's is 3:18 to 3:27. I've still got some work to do but I was closer to the target than I expected I'd be. I ended the session with one last 400 at 1:42:40. All in all, not such a sucky effort after all.

I did only get in a total of 5 miles, when the schedule called for 6, but 5 is better than a DNS. Thanks! for busting me Dear .

Just in case you hadn't seen this comment way at the bottom of my last post, I'm reposting this from my wife: "...thank you Bloggers for the get well wishes. I am feeling much better now, thanks to the prayers and good thoughts sent my way."