My Bad

Somebody had to nerve to bring heart shaped candies made of luscious, dark chocolate. They were so cute. I grabbed three of them thinking that I would bring them home to my boys for a Valentine’s Day surprise. But, I couldn’t help myself…I ate all three! My Bad.

I don’t know what has gotten into me. Except for the fact that my legs are sore after today’s short 5 mile run, everything is fine. Well, almost fine.

I have to admit that I have been watching my parrot predictor (see my sidebar), happily celebrating the sub-4 hour marathon predictions. They have actually been in the ballpark of my BQ, in fact! Even though I know that the calculation doesn’t really compute, it has been nice to watch the trend.

This past week, I was good. I hit my paces and logged the miles. My reward is a 4:01:29 parrot marathon prediction and muscle soreness! What’s more is that my legs weren’t as sore after my long run as they are today. I don’t get it.

Today’s run was nothing exceptional in terms of mileage or speed. I ran 5 miles with Mark. We did one of our usual routes at the usual pace. I wasn’t bored. The only thing out of the ordinary was that my shoes were weighed down with huge amounts of mud. Initially my legs felt “tight” and nothing more. But as the run progressed my legs began to feel a heaviness that got worse as the run continued. I began feeling tired too.

So I got to think about what else could be going on.

Well, on Sunday, I was under-fueled. My bad – I didn’t stock up on GU. I should have remembered that I was out. I only had one for the half-marathon and felt like I could have used another one. So my long run (14 miles) was fueled on water, 6 ounces of Odwalla AntioxiDance (90 calories/8 oz), and a package of Clif Shot Blocks (200 calories/6 blocks). Today, I had the usual oatmeal for breakfast, and my morning non-fat latte. I even ate a banana about 20 minutes before the run.

What else?

Perhaps my weekly mileage could be the culprit. I haven’t exactly been paying that much attention. Coach Jeff tells me what to run and I do it. It’s been “about” the same these past few weeks. Or has it? Well, “about” the same is true, but it has crept up ever so slightly each week. I thought I was still barely making the 26.2 miles to get the parrot predictor give me a number, but actually last week was 28.59! Yipee! My GOOD.

Maybe *that* is it…Or maybe it is just another one of those days. I’ll just see what tomorrow’s run is like. In the meantime, I’ve started up my long forgotten vitamin regimen.