Planned run and focus: 12x.26 at about 80-90% effort.

Damn that was probably the worst that I have felt since starting these No track Tuesdays. Not sure what is going on, the temps weren’t too bad, right around 70*F and humidity in the low 70%, a nice little breeze at my back for the repeats. Maybe I was just running harder than usual and did not realize how hard I was working, while I was out there.

Or a little too much running around this morning, which threw things out of whack for a Tuesday starting off (usual Sam’s run and then a surprise Wally run, construction on Middle Road, Bennie being sick again and all that stuff). Who knows? All I know is that both Mary and I felt off on our runs. Maybe I just did too much yesterday, since I almost had 30,000 steps and did a lot of weed wacking yesterday afternoon.

Whatever was going on, none of the repeats felt smooth, even though they were all pretty quick, well except one and I still am not sure what happened on that one (according to Strava I shut it down early), I finished the same place each repeat and really try to focus on running through the finish line of each repeat??? I guess I really lost focus or something.

Update: When I went back and did some investigating. When I pulled up each individual 0.26 segment I that I did today and last week, I saw that every one of them had me slowing down before the segment ended. It seems that the mailbox I have been using is not the finish line, but more likely the telephone pole after the driveway. This might be why my times seem a bit slower than the effort that I thought I was putting out – for all of these quarters for the past few years. We will see if changing where I finish makes any difference in the times. I will be looking a little closer at the segment ending spot from now on when I review the quarters next time or even other segments. ;-).

However, when I screwed up the Garmin after the 7th one, I knew it was time to quit.

The body was done and the mind gone, so doing more in that state doesn’t make for much improvement, what it does is get things ready to break. Besides both of the Achilles were complaining a bit and my left pectoral was feeling sore (from lifting that damn weed wacker without having a strap). So stopping when I did was smarter than usual.

The Run

• Course: No Track Tuesday – Philbrick Road
• Weather: Partly Cloudy, 69°F, Feels like 69°F, Humidity 74%, Wind 7mph from SSW 
• Distance: 5.26
• Time: 47:29
• Pace: 9:02

Splits:

Lap #	Time	Pace	Comment
Q1	1:43	6:36
Q2	1:44	6:40
Q3	1:48	6:55
Q4	1:53	7:14
Q5	1:50	7:03
Q6	2:14	8:35
Q7	1:50	7:03
Q8	Null	Null	Screwed up the Garmin, should have
			been faster than Q7, felt harder.
			Stopped at that point.

Shoes:

Nike Zoom Fly SP – I run faster in these shoes than any of the others that I have. Even though I felt each one of the repeats sucked bad, the times for the most part were better than usual. If I was to run a 5-10K road race tomorrow, these are what would be on my feet.

Anything else:

I somehow misplaced my gym bag, we have searched the house over and it is not anywhere any of us can find it. Which sucks because it had my spare ear buds and now that my Google buds for my Pixel 3a are toast, I had to use some really crappy ones today. So I ordered another pair of Google buds this afternoon. I don’t run often with them, but I do like to use them from time-to-time.

Also, I notice that all of my Strava segments are finally getting destroyed. 😉 hehehe not that they are all that great times or anything. While it is kind of sad, it is also good that other runners are discovering my routes and taking away my crowns. At least I know now that I am not the only suffering running up and down these hills. They are just doing it better than I am.