It started around 3:30 a.m. when I woke up to head to Nike Chicago downtown. I, along with a few others, got asked to do a small photo shoot. It sounded like a fun time and I jumped at the opportunity. Having never done of these ever, I had no idea what to expect.
We left for the first location (Buckingham fountain/queens landing) and did some light running action shots. This seemed like it would be a fun low key day. The group also was enjoying the warm sunny day we were having. I could not predict what the combo of the sun, a good amount of running and little sleep would do to my legs.
By the end of the day, my legs were pretty tired. We did a pretty good amount of running. At a few of the locations we did some pretty fast runs. We were done around three, got coffee, and went our separate ways for the day. My body felt ok then, so instead of going home, I headed to Fleet Feet to drop my bags off and attempt to run this tempo.
Once I arrived, the pre-run routine to get myself ready started. Things were looking good and I felt excited for the tempo. My legs even felt great during the warm-up mile I did. Maybe this was my body playing tricks on me?
The answer to that question would be yes. The first two miles of the tempo run were great! Despite how great they felt, I felt an impending doom coming. Did that stop me from slowing down to the pace I actually should have been aiming for? Nope. I pretty much even predicted when this breakdown would come.
Mile 2.5. The turn around point of my out and back tempo run. It is also the point where legs fell apart. Maybe, mentally I knew this turn would be tough because I gave it in to it way before it even came up. Either way, I still had half of my left to go.
At the turnaround point my legs did their best to hang on. It also did not help that my stomach started acting up, my mouth got really dry and my Zoom Elites felt so heavy(definitely not the shoes fault). I stopped a couple of times after the turnaround to get water and hope my stomach would settle down. A public bathroom is not something I wanted to spend time in. My pace slowed a decent amount, but this run needed to get done.
Eventually, my run ended. I felt pretty terrible. Typically some would think I might have been disappointed with it, but I laughed and I loved it. Those things came out of it because I knew I just learned a few lessons from it. Lessons learned from the run include:
-Stay at your prescribed pace even if the first few feel good at a fasteh.
-this counteracts the first point, but it is ok to take chances every so often.
-It is not easy adjusting to the heat. If you have to carry water with you, do it! I ended buying a Nathan Speeddraw plus handheld and like it more than I thought I would.
-Appreciate your runs. They may be a struggle, but things could be worse.
The best part about it all is that I got a great run in the next day.
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