I set out to do a 5 Km. run this morning. It was to be a tempo run. Tempo means that it is to be run at my race pace, or, as fast as possible. I was hoping to do 5:30 per Km. That would shave 30 seconds off the time that it took me to do that run before. That means, only 6 second per Km. faster. Not too hard I thought.
Usually I know the night before how I am feeling and how these runs are going to go. Last night, I was tired, but felt good. I had a really tough work out yesterday morning, but I did not think it would affect me that much. This morning I still felt tired, but woke up at my normal time, though I had planned to sleep in if I could.
First Km. went a bit slow. 5:41. Second one I did well at 5:25. Third Km. was back to the first Km. pace with a 5:42. Then it all fell apart. I just did not have the gas to go any more. I was beat, though I did not feel I was running that fast. I started walking/jogging shortly after the 3 Km. mark. Then by the time I hit 4 Km. it was all walking. The fourth Km. was at a 6:55 pace. I cut the agony short and only did 4.45 Km. for a total time of 28:07. Or a 6:19 Km. pace and 10:10 mile pace. That is nothing to be ashamed of. When I started this journey a 10:10 mile pace was a pipe dream. Here I walked 1.5 Km. of the run and still came out with that pace.
Ah, there is always another day.