“Off” Day
It’s Thursday, right? That means that it’s been four days since I finished my monster cycling weekend. Nearly 96 hours of mostly rest and relaxation (including an awesome massage Tuesday afternoon). Then how come I felt like I did during this morning’s run? I was tired and heavy and slow and frankly, winded. Those are not adjectives that I normally use to describe my training, especially when I’m this rested.
I’ve thought about it too much since I finished and I’m not sure how to explain it other than to just write it off as an “off” day.
Thankfully, there’s nothing in particular that I would describe as being wrong – my knee is a little achy but didn’t bother me on the run, I don’t really love the feel of my new running shoes yet (damn Mizuno and their new Wave Rider 10 – why do they have to mess with a shoe that I considered perfect?!) and I haven’t been getting as much sleep as I would like, but none of those things should have affected my run this much. I haven’t had one of these days in a long time, and it caught me by surprise. I did a nice long warm-up, which felt OK, but my Strides felt really weak. I think I ran them about as fast as I normally do, but I felt like I was using much more effort to get there. My cool-down just felt lazy.
Now that I think about it, it wasn’t just today. Yesterday morning’s swim wasn’t much better. I swam well, if a little slower than normal (on purpose), but it didn’t start off all that great: I got into the pool and pushed off from the wall only to realize that my goggles were still sitting on the pool deck. And my assistant told me yesterday that I’ve been grumpier than usual this week.
I’m remembering what I wrote the other week about exercise withdrawal, so maybe my body has been reacting to having those days off. But I’ll admit that that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense because if that theory is correct, then my body should have been excited about getting out for a run on a beautiful morning.
It was just an off day, everyone has them. Today was mine.
Swim – May 2
Distance: 2,500 yards
Time: 52 minutes
Run – May 3
Distance: 6.5 miles
Time: 1:00
Average heart rate: 150
Course: West Side Highway
Conditions: Sunny, warm (high 50’s), no wind, felt like Spring!