Solo this morning and feeling recovered from the race (I was recovered by the time I got home Saturday which is a bad sign that I did not give much), I decided to push a little to see how I felt. I started off up Amphitheater fairly conservative, but two minutes in I fully breathed a fly straight into my lungs. This sent me into fits of gagging, hacking and coughing, which I felt the residual effects of the entire run up. I hit the 1st jct. in 6:45, not great, but still within range of putting in a decent time. I upped the effort a bit, but really just did not have as much as I had hoped. My legs felt great and I plugged along, going at the low side of hard, but my cardio system was just not in sync and I felt as though I was fighting the hill a bit. My chest has still been bugging me more than I have wanted to admit since slamming it on my knee two weeks ago and I was mentally acknowledging some awkwardness this morning while trying to go a little harder than I have since it happened. It does not actually hurt so much while running (even though it still hurts if I lay on my stomach in bed), but I think the combination of it somewhat limiting my breathing (it still hurts a bit taking in a full breath) and just the overall feeling of being a bit more fragile than usual is having a bit of an affect both mentally and physically.
I tagged the top in a somewhat disappointing 35:46 (avg HR 165) which seemed slow to me given my overall perceived effort. I am looking forward to Bike to Work Day tomorrow and then hopefully a slew of 14ers over the weekend to usher in my 39th year.
Sometimes feels like there is a "biorhythm" or whatever you want to call it, that we're not able to control. And it doesn't correlate to training, diet, stress, sleep, or anything else people can measure.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'd my left nut plus all my teeth to run Green in 35mins, it's a slow time for you at 165bpm. Together with your less-than-ideal Evans race, seems like you are in a slump with no rational explanation.
It's not age. 39 is prime for the type of self-abuse you seem so fond of, so all I can say is keep your motivation up and think positive. PRs are sure to be on the horizon.
Thanks anonymous. I'm not too worried (yet), like you said, perhaps it is just a bit of a slump in rhythm. It is not entirely unusual for me to have a week or two of feeling a bit behind, but it eventually comes around. The body is usually pretty good at self regulating.
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