Roller Coaster Run

I didn't sleep well at all last night. I must have woken up every other hour – check the clock or look at my watch, roll over, try to get back to sleep, get up, go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, "ugh, I'm so dehydrated," lay back down, fall asleep, repeat in two hours. I have one of these nights every so often and it is never a good sign for the following morning's run.

I was up at 5 and this time couldn't get to sleep so I stared at the ceiling for a half hour before giving up, turning my alarm off and getting out of bed. The lack of quality sleep usually means my run will be, at best, OK (if I'm lucky) and this morning's run proved to be a roller coaster ride.

I was still feeling dehydrated as I got dressed so I chugged some water and ate my banana. I glanced at the thermometer display and it read 55 degrees. I switched to a lighter hat and abandoned my top layer before stepping out the door into the very slight drizzle.

Running in the rain it usually a great deal of fun, so I quickly decided to put the horrible night of sleep behind me and embrace the beautiful running weather (yes, in running, dark, rainy and in the 50s is damn near perfect). As I got into my rhythm, I was feeling great and I decided to take the slightly longer "short run" route that incorporates more hills, up and down.

Everything was going well, I even powered up the one giant hill and got to the top barely out of breath and just kept on going as if the incline had never happened. Shortly after conquering that hill and feeling better than ever before at the top, my Garmin beeped and it was time for a rest interval (today's run was at a 6 min. run/1 min. walk x 5 intervals). I walk for a minute. I run…

…and everything starts to go downhill quickly. That last six minutes of running was awful. My legs felt like lead, my breathing started to get heavier, and my right hamstring started tightening up. I had to start talking myself in to running – just to the next light pole, now to the street, just keep going until that car passes, now you've only got 3 minutes left, you can do 3 minutes, 3 minutes is easy, come on, a quarter of a mile, not a problem, just keep going, its almost over, I want to stop, just keep going… What was going on?

Obviously, it was the lack of sleep mixed with the dehydration (and charging up that hill certainly didn't help matters) that caused me to crash but it is always a hard pill to swallow when it hits so suddenly after such a high note. I end up finishing the run and when I got home, started stretching, got some more water and food in me, I felt fine.

I'm paying attention to my water consumption today and I'll be keeping an eye on my hamstring to make sure it isn't anything serious; however, I still enjoyed the run this morning…I'm just going to block out the last six minutes!

Today's Daily Dozen:
3.34 mile run (6 mins. run/1 min walk x 5)
Core Workout @ lunch hour