Big weekend of bad runs

Man did I struggle this weekend on my running - not sure what the deal is but something needs to change but I am not very happy.

Friday was a 2 lap cruise around the dirt road - 1.5 laps went very well the last 1/2 lap was pretty darn bad - I just could not get my legs to turnover and going up hills it felt like I was working way too hard. However I did get through the 20 miles. I am chalking up this painful run to needing new shoes - my legs felt like I was running on concrete barefooted. First lap was in 7:30 pace and second lap was in a little over 8:00 min pace.

Saturday was an easy 7 miler with our run groups - it was a little painful since I was not fully recovered from the 20 miler but the purpose of the run was to stretch the legs out a little. I broke out a new pair of shoes and they worked a lot better.

Sunday was 3.5 hours in Wekiva State Park - the plan was to run 2 big loops with stops at the car after each loop and then to run part of a third loop to get to 3.5 hrs of running. The first loop was pretty uneventful and went fairly well - tried to keep the heart rate about 140 and run a nice steady pace - we completed the loop in about 96 minutes (it is about 12 miles) - then we went off on loop 2. We were joined by some Team Hendryx athletes that came out to keep us company. The first 45 minute of this loop went well - still keeping the heart rate low and trying not to trip and fall.

The second part of the loop was not so great - I struggled through it with a walk /run until I reached the car again. The second loop was a struggle to get done in 110 - when I got back I added 4 extra minutes to get in the 3.5 hours of running - I figure it was about 24-25 miles of trail running.

My legs do not feel too bad today but I am concerned about how I ran over the weekend - the 3 days had a combined mileage of 50+ miles but there was a lot of struggling. Today will be a recovery day with some easy spinning and some light lifting - hopefully this week will be better!.

Happy New year to everyone - hope all of your fitness goals are met in 2009