Boasting about my fantastic run yesterday has left me lacking energy today. I sucked. No, I absolutely sucked today.
The plan was to try ladder intervals on the treadmill. I wanted to warm up, then follow it up by 5 minutes, then 4, 3, 2 and 1 while increasing speed with each interval. I started easy with 11km/hr for five minutes, then four minutes at 12km/hr and when I reached 13km/hr I only managed 1 minute and had to return to a walk to get my breath back. After a few minutes I returned to 5 minute per kilometer pace and had to slow down every few minutes to keep going. It was painful. I felt tired, my legs felt like they had extra weight on them, and towards I was feeling nauseas so I stopped, cooled down and finished the workout.
Lesson learnt? Yep, there is one. Don’t try to go hard two days in a row. I should know this already but whenever I tell myself I’m going to do an easy run I end up going harder and so when I plan a training session for the next day which involves something like intervals, it doesn’t go according to plan.
Another lesson? I have to admit, I’m shocking when it comes to warming up. Cooling down is okay, but warming up bores me to tears. I just want to get on the road –or treadmill- and run. Maybe if I had warmed up for ten minutes instead of the measly five the workout would have been more successful.
Anything else? Nutrition. I had eaten a little less than normal today and that may have had an impact, though I sometimes manage a run on an empty stomach without breakfast and have never felt as terrible as I did today.
One more? It’s not necessary to push yourself during every session – I must remember that.
Time: 40 minutes
Distance: 7km
Calories: 500 (though the machine may be lying).
How do you handle those tough workouts?
