Where do I start?
I'll just ramble until something gets going.
But first of all, this is not a whine fest! It is a little bit of venting, but it is simply mostly simply what happened. Things happened, I screwed some things up and I have to learn from them.
Much had changed since my post on December 11 when I stated that I was beginning to believe in a 3:30 marathon. That was the day of our biggest snowstorm. December was the snowiest on record, so running outside was very limited. So limited, that I eventually gave up on it.
On December 12th, I ran 18.7 miles on the treadmill. It didn't actually go to bad considering how warm it is inside and how hard it is mentally to run for 3 hours indoors.
Monday was a rest day, Tuesday I ran 6 miles at base pace (@ 9 minute pace) and then Wednesday I attempted to do my mixed intervals. Well, attempted is not the best description. It was a recovery week so I ran a warm up mile, then 2k at 7:48, 1 mile at 7:25, 1k mile at 7:04 and then was only able to run .15 of my .5 mile at 6:54. I only remember just breathing too hard and not being able to complete it. But I also shrugged it off. Not a big deal.
Losing 4 pounds in the next 4 days was a big deal though. A total of 6 pounds in 7 days. Some bug hit me in the stomach and I couldn't seem to recover. Then when I did recover, the stomach still wouldn't tolerate me running.
To the point that I only ran 14 miles the week after being sick (in which I only ran 10). My body just shut down and wouldn't let me do it. I know how to be stubborn and I also know when not to be. I just had to wait until it was ok to run more again.
Finally I had a 23 mile week. It was actually better than it sounds because I hadn't yet reached my Saturday and Sunday which are a significant amount of miles.
Unless you get sciatica!!!!! I was frustrated. But it was also my own damn fault. Suddenly in the month of December, I dropped my core workouts, yoga dvd's and other minor strength exercises. Then, as mentioned, I got sick, which of course, means I was inactive. So everything that I was just barely keeping in balance suddenly was no longer in balance. I was in bad shape and it was time to taper.
Or as a friend said, my taper started a bit early. Yes, it did. Too early.
I know you are frustrated and it sounds like the cards were a little stacked against you, without you having much control over them. :( I think you have a 3:30 in you - keep chipping away at it!
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