May 20

FIT:
Yesterday, I was going to try to get in a run at 11pm, despite being tired.  I got my running stuff on and got all the way to the fitness room, but when I got there, I found that all the outlets used by the cardio machines had no power.  I looked around for the switch for about 10 minutes, but the ones I found only controlled the lights.  It was strange.  Maybe a good thing, that I couldn't figure it out.  Long days.

Today, I think I was the most tired I've been during a run for a while.  The work day was long, which is typical, but running didn't perk me up this time.  I did the try-to-close-my-eyes-and-halfway-nap-while-I-run thing that I have to do occasionally (a few times a year), and I think I almost fell asleep a couple of times, or at least was dozy enough to not be able to run in a straight line, since I knocked up against the side bars of the treadmill a few times.  For the first time, I thought that today may actually be the day that I fly off the back end of a treadmill.

What kept me going was the thought about doing it for someone I care about, though.  Strange.  Nothing else in the world seemed to be worth the suffering but that.  Not running goals or endorphins or anything else.  So tired.

My usual stability shoes have felt a bit stiff this week.  Maybe my feet want more minimalist shoes.  It would be cool if it could do it consistently, if the tendons and muscles have adapted.  My usual stability shoes feel like running with wooden planks tied to your feet.  No bending of the arches at all.  We'll see how it continues to feel.

My legs had to be careful to keep good form by the end, otherwise my knees (or the muscles/whatevers around them) would've started yoinking around.  Even post-run when I was walking back to m apt, I had to keep full ROM and pick up my knees as I walked, to keep the yoinking at bay.  I'm icing now.  Maybe it was the fast sprints earlier this week that I'm recovering from.  Lindsay from chasingthekenyans.com made a good point about sticking to recommended paces for certain distances based on current race pace.  I've seen that at McMillan and Jack Daniels' Running Formula as well, and it's right on about predicted performances.  However, I've always been puzzled about why they don't give distances or # of reps to go with those suggested paces.  Are we just supposed to go by feel, and see how far we can go at that pace, or how many reps we can do at that pace on a given day?  I feel like I may be missing something.  Because if I should go at X pace for tempo runs, so far do I go?  How many reps of quarters at Y pace should I do? 

In the past, I've always pretty much gone by feel for my "training".  The marathon buildup late last year/early this year was the first time I followed any sort of official plan whatsoever (the Runner's World Smart Coach app), and I only followed the distance guidelines there.  I ignored the pace guidelines, since I thought that it may push me to go harder than my body could handle, and since I have a hard time having a predictable schedule and may be redistributing the miles across the workouts/weekdays anyway.  So we'll see.  Those paces are waaaay faster than the ones at which I train, even though they're suggested based on my PRs.  Anyway - suggestions are welcome.

Strange thing... on days when I can sleep in, sometimes, I find myself waking up early and not being able to go back to sleep because I feel like I need to take advantage of the day (just to zone out and enjoy being zoned out).  And on days when I should get up early and tackle the long to-do list, I snooze and snooze.

Oh yeah, 5.0 in 39:51, 7:58 ave.  Splits> 8:23, 8:11, 7:59, 7:51, 7:24.

After the run, I was really thirsty.  Dunno if that was why I was so tired (don't think so, since I'm always super-hydrated), or if it was just the 2 cloves of garlic I had had on my dinner burrito.