Overload

I have so many running related things swirling around in my head today, my brain is in Overload!

So here it goes: This morning I was supposed to run 7 miles and I wanted to get in my intervals that I skipped over yesterday. Well I woke up late and had time for 4 maybe 5 miles if I was quick, I managed to sneak in 5, with about 2 minutes to spare.

I started with a warm-up and then was going to do a yucky reverse ladder since I knew I would have to cut the run short, might as well make it hard. I was going to do  400, 800, 1200, 1600 and 1 more 400 if I had time left. Well during the 1st 400 I got this shooting pain up my left foot, think through the big toe bone back up towards my ankle. I never have any issues with my left foot, ever! The right one hates me, and frequently reminds me of that fact, but lefty has always been kind and reserved, until today. I finished the 400 and during the recovery interval it felt better so I thought I might have landed weird and started up for the 800...Pain again, I think you see where this is going. I made it through 3 -400s before deciding I would need to dial it down for the rest of the workout. I did a mile at tempo pace and a mile at half marathon pace, I needed to get some sort of speed in. All in all a respectable 5 miles, I had planned to get in my remaining miles once I got home tonight since I ran out of time this morning, hopefully get a few more intervals in, but we will see what the foot says. I am wearing sandals today so nothing is touching or pressing on the part of my foot that hurts- hopefully it likes that :)

5 Miles-  45:14, 9:02 average pace
Mile 1 warm-up-  9:43
Miles 2-5- 35:31, 8:52 average pace
With all the craziness I didn't get an idea of actual mile splits here- oh well!


On to the mini-meltdown I had last night. Jaime, Penny, and I have been exchanging emails about the marathon and its fast approach, and while I have read and participated in these conversations, it wasn't until I went to update my training plan last night that it really hit me- There is only 6 weeks left until the Taper!!!!! All my step up long runs will now be starting with the number 2 instead of a 1. I actually have written down that I will run 50 mpw 2 different times- oh yeah, and I have a half marathon I am supposed to run in 5 weeks! I knew it was all eventually going to come, but it's pretty much here. I have a step back next week and then the insanity begins. This all seemed like a good idea when I started it, I am beginning to wonder what I was thinking!?!?!?!?!?!?


Races:  I am getting ready to sign up for my next buch of races- be prepared it is a little insane! The one I cannot make up my mind about is in Atlanta on Labor Day. We will be up there for a wedding, and while I have run in the ATL before, there are some serious hills and about an 1,100 ft elevation difference which makes for not usually the world's fastest runs. The race I am looking at is a 10k, and I just don't know if I would be able to go out and set a PR. My last 10k was not too long ago and actually in Atlanta. I set a very narrow PR then, but the conditions made it tough. This race falls on a Monday so I wouldn't lose a long run from it, it would actually act as tempo run which is what I normally do on Mondays. After my race series 2 weeks ago, I felt it took me at least a solid week to truly feel 100% recovered from all of those hard efforts and to be honest, with that race falling on the week of my first 20 miler, I don't have another week at this point to be 'recovering' and sucking it up, especially for a race I may not do well in, that 20 miler 5 days later is more important. This would not be a final tune-up race before the marathon, I already have that scheduled, so the big question is...is this race a good idea? Should I do it? Should I race it? Should I just use it as a tempo run?