When the legs feel like brick

Ok so I know my posts have been few and far between lately but that's just because nothing exciting has been going on.  Plagued by a shoulder injury, the last few weeks have just kinda been blah.   I have been keeping up with all my workouts but to be honest my runs although not bad, have not been great either.  I think that every runner has those days when they get up all pumped up to run only to find out that their legs just were not as pumped as their mind was.  I had a day like that on Tuesday, before I even had one lap around the track in I was thinking what the hell is wrong with the legs today?   I feel like I am running in wet cement.  For the next two miles nothing changed and the same frustrating thoughts were going through my head.  I was happy as hell when I finally gave myself permission to stop running.  For a runner days like these are frustrating as hell and you just pray that they never happen on a race day.

I have my first 5k of the season next Saturday and Tuesdays run had left a bad taste in my mouth.  So today when I set out to the gym I had Tuesdays run on my mind and I knew I had to do better then that.   I got there and walked a quarter mile to warm up.  I was feeling great until... I started running!   Legs felt like bricks again!  Frustration mixed with a bit of nervousness started to set in as several times I thought my legs were going to give out.   I pressed on and finally I had a half mile in.  Over the winter I started following the Geff Galloway's run/walk method of running.  So typically I would have run another lap or two and then walked a lap but today, since I was having so much trouble, I decided to walk every half mile.   Once the walk lap was over I set out to just finish a mile.   The second half went NO better then the first and the whole time I was running all I could think about was only 5, 4, 3, 2, and then 1 more lap until I can walk again.   At 1 mile I thought oh man this is ridiculous.  I have been running for almost a yr now there is no way in hell I will settle for two runs in a row being crap.  Determined to do better I pressed on.  After my walk break at 1.5 my legs started to feel a little lighter like someone had taken weights off my ankles.  The fear that my legs were going to just give out was now gone allowing me a little freedom from all the thinking and negativity going on in my mind.  I stopped thinking about running and just started listening to my music.  That is until I was one lap from the 2 mile mark when I looked at the time and thought OMG what the hell?!?  I have been running for 30 min and I have not quite made 2 miles yet.   My mind was like a whirl wind of thoughts again,  30 min that can not be right, uggg I need to run faster, the walkers at the race on Sat are going to beat me, I can not come in last at this race, I am slower then a turtle I am a fricken sloth, I have to step this up, 30 min... seriously that can not be right it just can not be right... is that right?!  All these thoughts and a million more took over my mind for the next mile.  By the time mile 3 hit I had realized two things.  1.  My legs were feeling good now   2. I need to go back to 3rd grade because I can not tell time.  LOL  what I thought was 30 min was actually only 25 min.  I did not stop running when I hit mile 3, I figured I would just continue on until I got in a full 5k.  The only thing is my legs were now feeling good I mean real good  I hit the 5k point and felt no need to stop so I told myself just make it an even 3 and a quarter.  Only once I hit that I still felt good.  Ok 3.5 I told myself.   I got there no problem.  Ok 3.75 then!   once I got to 3.75   are you kidding me only 4 more laps until I get in 4 miles.  I got this easy!   One lap before 4 miles I glance at the clock again.  (this time reading it correctly)  and realized ok wether or not I can go any farther I have to stop and get home so Ryan can get to work.  So I sprinted the last lap.   Finishing my last mile and a half with no walk breaks, and the full 4 miles in just 45 min.   Which happens to be an amazing pace for me. 

I am not sure how a run with such an awful negative start ended up being one of my best runs I have ever had but I am very happy about it.  Infact I think that last mile I ran gave me what is known as a runners high. Could it be?!?!   What I do know is I feel a whole lot more confident going into next weeks 5k knowing that there is a possibility that I could potentially pull of a pace under a 12 min. mile.   ~It still shocks me that less then a yr ago I could not run around the block and now... WOW!