There will be days like this!

Today, I had a tempo run on my schedule. I was tired Wed night, so I headed to bed early, had a good night sleep, slept a little extra this am. Still a little tired when I stumbled out of bed, but you know how it goes. Maybe after my warm up, I will feel better(many times I do). I am still running by heart rate, so the thought passed through my mind, because I am a little tired from the mileage this week, this tempo run will be slow because my heart rate will go up fast from being a little tired. I was OK with that plan, just gonna follow my heart. I jogged 2 miles slow to warm up and ready to start my 5.5 mile tempo run on hills. I am a half mile into the run, feeling my legs a little, but noticing, I am struggling to get my heart rate up to my tempo range. My legs are too tired to get me where I need to be. It took me 1.5 miles to get the heart rate up. If I went by pace, I was ok, but wanted to run by heart rate. So I struggled for 3 miles, trying to run fast enough to get the heart rate in range. I stopped at 3 for a water break. I wanted to do the 5.5 miles without stopping, but couldn't make it, which is ok, it's really hot and humid. So I started back and again, struggling to get the heart rate up. I get another 1.5 miles and I am DONE. I decide to bail on the last mile. At this point it's not really a tempo run anyway, it was more like fartleks or intervals, or something, I'm not really sure. So for the 4.5 (3 miles and then 1.5 miles), I averaged 8:14, then I finished out the 10 miles with a slow jog.

So, as stated previously, I'm not educated on heart rate training. Still haven't purchased any books. Today, was a shock. I was expecting a slow pace tempo. I thought with being tired my heart rate would shoot up really fast and I would just run the slow tempo, instead, by pace on the hills, it was a good tempo pace, but not really what I wanted by my heart. So now ????? - I wanted to use the heart rate monitoring because I thought it would be the best guide especially when fatigued. I was prepared to follow my heart, but my legs were too tired to respond. HHMMMM!

So today I have completed 38 of my 50. 3 days to get 12 miles, no problem. When I planned my schedule, I knew this would be a tough week. I have had 3 weeks upping the mileage - 40, 45, and this week will be 50. I needed a step back week this week, but with the 18 miler on the schedule, I needed to use this week to get the 50 miles. Next week, my long will be 10, and it will be a much needed step back week, 30-34 miles. Already looking forward to it.

Thank you Sun! The sun cooperated very nicely with my run this morning. It came out from behind the clouds when I had 1/4 mile left of my tough run. Sweet!

So, am I bummed, not at all. For me 50 miles will be sweet. Also, my training is fairly aggressive. I don't really like when I stray from "the plan", but sometimes it is the right thing to do. Today was one of those days and that's ok. There will be days like this, and I can deal with it.

I am reminded of a blog that I follow:
http://frayedlaces.blogspot.com/
"There will be a day when you can no longer do this... Today is NOT that day." Frayed Laces (I love that)
I am thankful for my health.