Hump Day

I seriously need someone to push my rump over the hump today.

Lately, it seems like I have a good training week, then a bad one. I am just plain tired today. Yesterday I got up at 4 am to run with the group from the fitness center. I haven't raced in almost a month and I haven't run with the group in about as long so I haven't done ANY speedwork. I am getting worried that I am building distance but losing speed. So anyway, I got up at 4 am yesterday to play follow the leader in the dark. I did OK running while half asleep. I thought we ran faster than usual...

Mile 1 - 8:22
Mile 2 - 7:38
Mile 3 - 8:21
Mile 4 - 8:56
Mile 5 - 8:53
Mile 6 - 9:02

We always stop after 3 miles to let the rest of the group catch up. I still haven't figured out the route for the first 3 miles of our run but I know the last 3 now. I keep thinking that one day I'll try running it in the daylight and figure it out!

I felt better after seeing my times from yesterday. Today is another story. I SO wanted to sleep in this morning except I had to drive my older daughter to school because she had a poster board to bring in, then I had a conference call for work from 7:30 am  to 9 am. I was supposed to run 12 miles after that. I could NOT get my butt out the door. All I wanted to do was curl up in a big ball and go to sleep. I ended up procrastinating until noon. When I finally got out, it started out overcast and I thought it was going to sprinkle rain - which would have been great. Instead, the sun came out. I plodded along and felt like this was completely a junk run. I ended it after my first 6 mile loop.

Going to start over again tomorrow. I have to get my PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) recertification tomorrow. Class starts at 9 am. I am planning to get up at 4 am to get 6 miles in with the group again, then run another 6 miles on my own after my recert class is over in the afternoon.

I think part of my reluctance to get out the door these days is that my heels are killing me. I am getting paranoid that I might have stress fractures. They hurt so bad I can barely put weight on them when I first stand up but then I get used to it. I hobble through my first mile or so, but then the pain generally either goes away or there are other things - like my left hamstring and butt cheek - that hurt worse so I don't notice it. As soon as I get done running though, the pain is there again - especially if I am walking around in my bare feet with nothing to pad my heels. I don't think I'm going to get it looked at though since the obvious "fix" to my problem would be to rest my feet. I'm hoping to hold out until November 2nd, then rest my feet after that!