Another Brick in the Wall

So now I know. When you've been taking training easy for weeks, do not try to go out and run like you should be able to.

Saturday's long run was actually not bad. Only five miles, and I was sticking with the slower group, since I was still wearing the old shoes and no orthotics. Hopefully, that will change for this week's run. However, I decided to give the new shoes a try for the race that night. Yes, I know you shouldn't do things in races you hadn't done before, but dangit... those old shoes just aren't working out for me.

The new shoes felt great! There's a lot more cushion in the heel, and that was obvious from the beginning all the way to the end. The front of the foot is a little wide, and had my insert (which I bought for a much smaller shoe) sliding around a bit. The new orthotics don't seem to have that problem when I did wear them in those shoes, though, so that shouldn't be as much a problem when I start running with the orthotics.

Speaking of running with the orthotics, that should be starting any day now! Hopefully, I can get out tomorrow and get some good running time in -- assuming we aren't in the middle of a monsoon, like we were today. It's rough getting up early to be greeted by loud, rumbling thunder. The pillow seems extra inviting when that happens.

Getting back to the issue at hand, though, the shoes felt great. What didn't feel great was my legs. Not the shins... the muscles. I said I was going to run it easy. I didn't. I ran the first couple miles at a fairly aggressive pace for me (about 9 min/mile). As it turns out, without the training, running five miles in the morning and then attempting to jam out 5 more miles at night at such an ambitious pace was, how do you say, idiotic?

At the turnaround, I was hurting. It was pretty obvious that at that point, I couldn't keep up that pace any longer. On the plus side, I was there in just under 23 minutes... pretty dang good for me! However, when I hit three miles, I lost everything.

Now, I had never really hit "the wall" before. I'd heard stories, but it's hard to do when running 5k races. This time, I think I finally get it. My legs simply would not do anything I told them to do! I had started out running a 3/1 ratio, but I finished up running 1/1, and even that was excruciating. And the second half of the run... 31 minutes. Ouch. Most of it was in the last two miles.

So, my results:

258 456 61 Bill, 35, Jacksonville, FL 54:10 10:50

Still, there is one bright spot. I still beat my time from the winter beach run (54:54), despite running five miles in the morning. I'm definitely improving as far as endurance goes, if not in my pacing. I just need to make sure to get back to running more as soon as it's safe for me to do so.

I can't wait!