I’m not having very good luck with my 25 mile training runs. My last one did not go according to plan and this morning’s was even worse. Worse from the standpoint that I never even bothered to head out for it.
I had kinda been dreading the run all week long. The temperatures had been up in the 40s and 50s all week long, but the forecast was for an overnight low of 20 and only getting up to 32 degrees on Saturday. I’ve learned to dress for those temperatures, but 5 hours in sub-freezing temps is still 5 hours in sub-freezing temps.
I went to bed early Friday night, however when I woke up I was still pretty tired. I had been working longer than normal hours during the week and was short a couple hours of sleep as I had been getting up at 4am to get my runs in. I was just drained.
By force of will, I managed to drag myself out of bed and get dressed. But the more I thought about getting out the door to run, the less motivated I became (have I mentioned the sub-freezing temps yet?). I also considered the extra work stress this past week and whether it was smart to throw a five hour run on top of that. I was able to get out and knock out a good 20-miler last weekend so it’s not like I really needed get this run in.
So I went back to bed for 3 more hours. And it was glorious.
I ended up running 7 miles later in the morning after I got up for good and enjoyed the run. Maybe I should have just sucked it up and done my planned 25 miles. I don’t know. I definitely psyched myself out, however there’s no way of knowing whether the run would have been a net benefit for me. I’m in a solid groove mentally and physically right now and there’s a chance it could have pushed me towards burnout or injury. It’s still very early in the year and there’s no need to push things in my training right now.
Plus my bed was soft and warm.