Goodness me, this post has been in the making for over a week now, please excuse any incorrect tenses I may have missed in the edit!! Plus, I hate his keyboard, it's as if someone moved all the letters so half the stuff I type is gobbledygook... Not good!
Good news on my laptop front, my clever dad had a brainwave last night! My brother has the same laptop so we're going to swap batteries, backup all my precious pictures then send it back to Dell so they can fix it again. It breaks every few months. I will NEVER buy Dell again. My laptop is a nightmare!
I went out for my second run of 2011 last Thursday, as Mike was coming we decided to do intervals. Totally flunked it.. in my third interval I felt really dizzy again and had to stop. I was so frustrated, sometimes it feels like my body just won't play ball.. I just jogged slowly until Mike was finished.. This cold I've got has really taken it out of me. That and I guess being tired from work..
I ate a bigger breakfast before my next run to see if it could be poor fuelling... I always want to know the reasoning behind why things don't work out. I did 5 miles and the breakfast seemed to make a difference as I was still tired and the cold was still being persistent haha!
5 miles in 44.30
Mile 1 - 9.19
Mile 2 - 9.04
Mile 3 - 8.47
Mile 4 - 8.39
Mile 5 - 8.42
Avg 8.54
Score!! Comfortably in my long tempo pace of 8.48-9.01. So happy to get a run which felt successful in! And almost all negative splits, double score!
After that successful 5 mile run I set out for a 6 mile run, rather stupidly on an empty stomach. I've been struggling with a few old demons lately.. guess it's the January weight loss kick and feeling like I should be losing some too. That's a whole post in itself though..
I took Roxie out with me and started off slow.. got to the bridge to find one side was closed and the other side had big flashing lights saying 'danger high wind' I promptly wimped out and changed my route.. I don't like wind at the best of times and strong wind on a bridge... not feeling hardcore enough for that!
We ended up covering a slow 3.5 miles in 34.32... I gave up partially due to my lack of fuelling and feeling really sluggish and partially due to the rain and fogged up glasses which was making it almost impossible to see.. It didn't really feel too safe and I just wasn't in the mood I guess.. Oh well.. it's still 3.5 miles more than nothing I guess ;-)
Ahhh finally I'm starting to get up to date!
Yesterday Mike and I went out for intervals. 5 x 800m 90s RI. They were so tough!! The odd pacing is due to them being run up and down one road which had a slight incline and wind resistance on intervals 2 and 4, meaning 1, 3, and 5 had a slight decline and a little wind help!
1 - 3.18 Oh my god, I'm going to be sick, I'm definitely going to be sick.. Why did Mike want to come out so close to breakfast.. stupid Mike... bleughhhhhhhhh...
2 - 3.46 OK don't feel quite so sick but I didn't realise the wind was going to be so horrible... please hurry up and end...
3 - 3.33 Back on the slight downhill... This should feel easier surely?? Oh well, over halfway now.. keep pushing!!
4 - 3.59 Nooo dizzy again. My legs feel like they're going to give way and I hit pause and sit on the pavement for 20 seconds. Think I'm not giving up now. Not again!! (reading this back I'm such a drama queen but that's what I felt like haha) And get up. Plod along to the end and think thank f*** that's over! I took an extra 30s rest before tackling number 5, figured it's better to have a slightly longer rest and finish than do the proper rest and bail halfway through.
5 - 3.38 Still dizzy but not quite as bad.. just trying to get to the end... Finally see Mike and Roxie in the distance and try to speed up... not terribly successful but did a little! Collapse into a heap on the pavement, unable to talk for a few minutes... Successful intervals!
When we were stretching afterwards I told Mike about having to stop in the 4th. He said I was just about to tell you the same thing!! So we both struggled in the fourth, how strange.. He said at least we both finished though, better to stop and carry on than stop and give up (unless you need to, of course).
It does get me thinking though, what should you push through? Should I have pushed through? At the time I felt like I couldn't so I guess I did the right thing but I always feel bad for stopping... I'm sure I've debated this on here before anyway! I guess we have to just trust our own judgements!
Hope everyone has had a good start to the year.. I hope to get my laptop fixed ASAP and resume regular posting! I miss blogging, both reading and writing!
Logging you in...
Carrot Cake Bars
2 days ago
Overasll I'd say that was a very good effort on the intervals!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there's some psychology at play for the stopping on the 4th.
Theoretically the first might be marginally tougher if not fully warmed up, second should be far easier then they should get progressively more difficult as fatigue builds.
Therefore the last is the toughest.
But...physical feelings of fatigue or nausea are products of the brain, used in order to control exhertion and rein us in before we do any damage.
By the last but one interval the brain is sending lots of these slow down/stop signals but for the last one it eases off with the pain because it knows its the last and that you'll be stopping anyway.
Another example of this is racing where you might feel you have nothing more to give with a mile to go yet that mile ends up your fastest and includes a sprint finish, as the brain eases off with the negative signals.
Make sense?
Way to go girl - nice time on the 5-miler and good job with the intervals. High 5's!!!!
ReplyDeleteyay 800s. definitely my favorite!
ReplyDeleteHope you shake that cold and its side-effects soon. As for pushing though, If I'm feeling physically ill. I'd definitely slow my pace, but I think I too would press through and finish. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi there!
ReplyDeleteFunny- you had computer issues too! maybe it's the time of year...;-)
and i just came back from my 5wk to 5k run group that I coach..and today as speedwork. ANd learning how to push through that really uncommfortable feeling. and you did it..niiiiice girrrl;-)
Those intervals aren't bad at all! Give yourself a break and recognise your achievements, particularly in such godawful conditions.
ReplyDeleteKnowing when to push and when to stop is something I find difficult to manage. I'd say that dizziness is never, ever a good sign and it's about the one thing that would make me pull back a little, aside from literally crippling pain. Mine is usually related to blood sugar more than hydration, but if you have a cold on top of everything else then it could be a sign that your system is generally struggling. Take care of yourself!
I hate the Jan emphasis on weight loss too. There's a huge group of women at my gym that are on juice fasts and keep insinuating that I need to join them because I've put on some xmas 'pudge', which I have...but there's no need to be so pressurizing about it. You don't need to lose weight: the people that usually pick up on these messages are the ones that shouldn't...hopefully it will die down over the next few weeks.
*hugs*
Great job on the intervals! I am not a fan so am always impressed when people go out and get them done :)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to once you get back in the swing of blogging too.
We've missed you too, nice to get a catch up from you. Glad that having a bigger breakfast helped. I always find your posts very inspiring, I need to get my butt out running outdoors again :)
ReplyDeleteGlad you're back and well done with the running!
ReplyDeleteRob, perfect sense. It felt very real at the time but perhaps there was something psychological about it.
ReplyDeleteHope your computer is fixed now AM mine is on the mend, my dad's idea has saved my photos! phew!
Jessica good on you avoiding the juice fasts, it must be particularly hard with women putting pressure directly on you.. Thanks for the kind comment :-)