Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right . . .

. . . and I'm pretty sure that two lefts don't make a right either . . . but it might be possible that two bad running days can lead to a good one . . .

Tuesday and Wednesday's runs this week were just terrible. Tuesday night I had my running class. I usually enjoy class. It's a challenge, but not an impossible one, and I usually find myself having a lot of fun pushing my legs to their limits . . . not this time. This week we ran 3x a short hill fartlek loop. We ran very quickly up two LONG hills and then recovered on the downhills and flats. The total loop (that we did three times) was 1.4 miles. Add to that the warm up and cool down runs, we did about 6 miles again . . . which is normal and fine and good. I think, however, that I was dehydrated, not feeling well, tired . . . I don't know what, but I didn't run well at all. I even had to drop back a pace group after the first two loops of hills . . . otherwise I'm not sure I'd have been able to finish the workout.

Wednesday morning I decided I'd get up with Sara to get my run in b/c I had a meeting downtown and lunch with friends (also downtown). I didn't want to do the same old out and back four miler that I always do so I figured I try something new and go by time and a few other distances I thought I knew. The run sucked. I felt sluggish and awful and I wasn't breathing well, my legs hurt (most likely a holdover from the previous night's class) and it was just bad all the way around. When I got home and actually mapped the run, it ended up being 4.5 miles and I was running faster than I had thought . . . so it wasn't a complete waste, but I still didn't feel that great about it.

Today I was nervous. I had to run 8 miles b/c I'm out of town this weekend (going to Chicago) and I wasn't sure I'd have time to get anything longer than four miles in. I didn't set an alarm b/c I wanted to get a good night's sleep, and just decided I'd go when I woke up. Last night ended up being much cooler and so I slept much better, and today was MUCH cooler than it had been and I was running earlier in the day. So being cooler and well rested meant that today's run didn't go as poorly as I thought it might have based on the two previous days. I did the same 8 mile path to the SE corner of Central Park and ran it faster than I ever have, shaving about 40 seconds off of my total time or 5 seconds off of my pace. Not too shabby. I think it's a good sign that each time I run 8 miles I get faster . . . let's hope that trend continues with the longer distances.