The 50K went so well, I thought recovery would be easy. I took four days off, but by Wednesday I was itching to run. So I decided to join my usual Wednesday night group - probably not the best move since this is a speedworkout, but I figured I could just lolligag at the back of the pack with an easy pace. Well, I was at the back of the pack, but I didn't feel like I was lolligaging! I felt I was working super hard just to get to the finish! The workout was 4 hill loop repeats (0.8 miles) up Soapbox Hill in Bush Park. But on my third one my time was really slipping (5:54!) and I felt as if my legs were going to just melt into the ground. I worried that they wouldn't even hold me up anymore, let alone get me up the hill one last time. So instead I bagged it and even skipped the cool down, just walking back to my car.
That kind of got me in a mental funk for the rest of the week. I felt weak and lame and I couldn't seem to get a good plan together for what I needed to do. Lucky for me, Greg Crowther is a college classmate of mine, and was able to give me a bit of advice. I think once I could focus on a new plan and accept that I needed more time to rest, things started to come back together and I got over my funk.
I took another 4 days off without running, then did a couple of easy runs. This Wednesday when the group did hill loop repeats (five this week), I could tell I still wasn't at my best, but I was doing okay hanging in the middle of the pack. My last one was 5:10 - a big difference from the week before. I told you my legs weren't working right that day! I ran with the girls Thursday morning (easy 9.25 miles) and Saturday I did 13 with the boys (7:43 pace).
With the Portland Marathon in two weeks, September isn't going to have much hard core training. Hopefully, I'll still be able to have a good race in Portland.
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