Worn Out!

Man oh man, I think that the miles are beginning to get to me. After 2 weeks at 75+ miles including over 15+ miles at tempo-pace and a long run from 18-21 miles, my legs are finally feeling fried. They definitely haven't treated me well this week.

Monday night, 2 days after my 2.5hr run on Saturday, I had another big workout... and the fatigue from the long run made itself known from the start. The workout was:
2mi warmup
2 x 2mi @ T-pace (5:54) w/3min rest
1hr @ E-pace (7:22)
2mi @ T-pace
2mi Warmdown
Total: 18 miles

After the 2 mile warmup it was clear that 18 miles wasn't going to happen (and wouldn't be smart to do) so I shortened it a little bit... doing the following:

2mi warmup
2 x 2mi @ T-pace (5:49, 5:52), (5:44, 5:55) w/3min rest
6mi @ E-pace 
2mi @ T-pace (6:13, 6:06)
2mi Warmdown
Total: 16 miles

Obviously the fatigue became apparent late in the run. That last 2mi tempo effort was horrible. It felt like I was running the same pace as earlier, but the watch shocked me by showing otherwise. There simply wasn't anything left. I feel like I'm generally getting a little better at feeling my pace, but still have some work to get it really accurate.These longer workouts continue to show me, however, that I need to work on keeping my focus in the late miles of long, hard efforts more than anything. Whether it's this workout, a long continuous tempo, or any of the other 15+ mile workouts, I keep losing focus, and thus slowing in the late miles.

Anyway, Tuesday I took it easy with a 6-mile easy run and then tonight I had another bout of speedwork on the agenda. It was supposed to have been a 12 mile run with 2 by 20-minutes at T-pace but considering how beat my legs felt AND the fact that I am trying to race this Sunday I thought better of it and just did 20 minutes at about 6min pace. I am very happy to be able to cut mileage back a bit now with just easy runs from now until Sunday and the race. I'm thinking that this week, and next, I will just keep mileage in the 60-65 mile range before doing maybe 1-2 more weeks around 75 and then cutting it way down for the big race in November. As everyone else is racing now, it's starting to make me a little impatient to get to mine but hey, I'd rather be impatient now, then having to have started training 6 weeks earlier in the summer and running in the heat that much longer!!