and the wall pushes back
That’s one of the funny things about running – you rarely win for very long.
Last week, I pushed a little harder than previous weeks. Basically, I just wanted to see (as Andrew put it) “what the car could handle”. I ran three runs in a row at slightly higher paces and heart rates. Things felt great until Saturday when the wheels feel off car. On Saturday I had very low energy and had to reduce pace significantly to get my 90 minutes done.
But it wasn’t enough because I went out with very low energy again on Sunday’s hard run. After struggling for several minutes, I implemented Andrew’s first rule: Reduce intensity by first reducing pace. I slowed to easy run pace.
And it still wasn’t enough. I was bagged. I cut the run short and came home in a paltry 30 minutes.
Coach says if you bag a run (cut it short), you skip the next one. Well, forgive me coach for I have sinned – I ran yesterday. I know that rule is there for my protection but a) I hated the idea of cancelling my long run and b) I had a feeling Sunday’s breakdown was more to do with poor fueling (I didn’t eat lunch that day) than it had to do with being a broken down heap of a runner.
I think I was right about the gamble since yesterday’s long run felt terrific. However, as I am learning, one run does not make a runner. It is the accumulation of runs that reveals the “Running Gods” plans for us.
You push the wall. The wall pushes back. You push the wall. The wall pushes back.
This stuff is really starting to make sense to me.
