Laboring Through

Labor Day...another holiday excuse to run a race. This year and last I decided upon the Labor of Love 5 miler as my run choice. It is close to home, a little more of a distance than a 5K, and the proceeds benefit Akron Pregnancy Services. I am trying to incorporate more runs that actually fund raise for charity.

This weekend on Saturday I did a 16 mi run long run and on Sunday I chose to bike 19 mi with Brandon and 10 mi with my mother later on that evening. I tried hard to eat the needed carbs to get myself set for the 5 miler, which in my head was going to be an easy run...I had already run 16 mi this weekend, what is 5 miles. Wrong. I made some bad choices in recovery and I paid for it during the race.

Monday was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and the type of day we live for here in the northeast. I felt a little tired when the alarm went off at 6:30 am but I made myself get up to eat breakfast with enough time to digest it before the run. Soy milk and cereal is the new breakfast of choice, I am trying to eliminate dairy before any big events to see if my stomach likes me a little more. After breakfast a slow 20 minute morning yoga DVD was the key to stretching after my run & spins this weekend.

Pre-race I tried to jog slowly for 10 minutes, I could feel stiffness in my calf but I figured it would release some after a warm up but it still was tight when I began the race. The first two miles of the run were splits of 8:33 and 8:46 (which is good for me) and then at about mile 2.25 on a fairly steep uphill through Akron University, my calf began to cramp. I just kept thinking "You have got to be kidding me. " I had to walk for a couple minutes, massaging my calf as I went. Mile 3 split 11:43 (ouch). I began to slowly jog again, but my calf felt like it had a softball sitting in it, unfortunately this slowed my last to splits to 10:09 and 10:40, and I finished in 49:51, 3 minutes slower than last year and my worst run since the beginning of training this spring.

I watch a lot of really good runners run race after race, long run after long run, without that much trouble. It seems though, that my body needs a little more recovery time than I might like to believe, but at least I found this out on a short run instead of the upcoming half marathons that I am doing and especially for my marathon in October. I have to be smarter about allowing myself the time to heal before any race.

Lesson Learned.

This weekend is a the 9 mile potato stomp on Saturday and the Buckeye Half on Sunday.... and I am only allowing myself a 3 mi run on Wed and a short spin on Thurs. Today I rest. I need it.