Daily Note

Boy, I did not want to get out the door for this one. Couldn't even tell you why cause I had been productive on school work all day (a rarity now) so you'd think I'd want to escape that and get out for a nice evening jog. Wasn't the case and eventually left my house at 6:30pm when the weather was 70 degrees, 9mph winds, and mostly cloudy. Darker clouds really rolled in the last half, signaling the rain that is likely to be falling the next 36 hours or so. I went in with hopes of doing the classic 2x10" tempo workout, but my body wouldn't allow for it. The first seven miles were defined by a side cramp, resulting in my taking it slower and trying to get rid of the darn thing with in 3 nose, out 2 mouth breathing patterns. Finally around 7.5 it went away, but by that point in time, I didn't have enough real estate remaining to knock out the planned workout so then debated for another mile of whether I was actually going to do something. (Earlier in the run, after emerging from Tacoma Hills, I decided I wasn't going to workout with my subpar feel). However, I figured I wanted to get something in, so while starting south on Hulett I began to pick it up and opted to finish out the run with a progressive tempo. Simply put, it didn't go that well. I felt super off during this. Maybe it was the hour I spent semi-napping on my bed from 4:45-5:45 or maybe it was the Fiber One bar I ate at 3:45. Legs also were out of sync and couldn't move as fast as I would've liked. The cardio was a bit wheezy and my mental game was all off. First mile was 5:36 then 5:29 and I think I finished around 5:33 pace for a 5K, so yeah...not good. Could've pushed more, but the odd mindset and not starting 'til eight miles threw me off. Also, a majority of it was a gradual uphill with a stronger head wind or cross breeze. All dumbass 'excuse' explanations, but simply put it was just one of those days. Gotta realize you'll have those. Immediately after finishing I wasn't frustrated at all, but later in the night it started to grind my gears a little. Even with all that said, it was better to get in something rather than nothing. Hopefully I'll do a shorter, lighter interval tune-up on Thursday for Saturday's DMR. In terms of the achilles, didn't feel much of anything today. There were some slight moments of creakiness during the tempo, but probably imagined. Even with the less than ideal finish, this was honestly a pretty good run and one I really enjoyed in the moment. The temperatures were near ideal and I appreciated how great the fresh air felt. There were a ton of people out in Tacoma Hills and on Bennett, so I actually opted to run on the right gravel shoulder down that busier road. Also made the observation that a lot of people bike very, very slow. Cruised by this one mom and her son within my first two miles and I was going 7:15 pace, and then coming down Okemos I slowly reeled in this pair on their bikes. Good grief. Anyways, afterwards was short with dinner just a touch after eight, but I got in calf raises, rolling, achilles & calf stretches, 20x core circuit, 50 push-ups, & 50 squats. Clean Kinvaras @ 186.14 miles.