Sunday morning, got up early to do my monthly 5k assessment. For those of you that don’t know, I use TriDot to optimize my training. Tridot utilizes monthly assessments to gauge your progress and/or modify your upcoming workouts to ensure that you are training optimally. Anyway, with that being said, I had all of my assessments in the last week. I crushed my swim assessment, shaving off nearly 45 seconds on my 400 and 9 seconds on my 100. Similarly, I increased my FTP on the bike by 8 watts.
However, I knew the run was going to be quite a bit more difficult. I have been dealing with a lingering calf injury that caused me to miss my last assessment on doctor’s orders. Just 8 days ago, the doctor released me to run at full speed although cautioned that it would likely cause some soreness. Wednesday, I ran for the first time at Zone3/Marathon pace and leg was sore but not tearable. Sunday was my first Z4/Threshold run and it wasn’t fun. I wanted to push as hard as possible and hopefully remain close to my previous assessment. A friend of mine came to pace me, and it was a difficult run. The first mile was clicking along but then started feeling that I wouldn’t be able to complete the run, that it wouldn’t be possible, and that I wasn’t ready yet. My body didn’t want to cooperate, it was tough to breath, and it was tough to keep going.
In the end, I did manage to finish, even though it was by far the most difficult run I’ve had in recent memory. I came in about 24 seconds behind my PR, but with nearly 5 weeks of limited to no running, I’ll take it. The main thing is that I didn’t give up, when it would have been very easy to stop. I know, with a few more strong runs under my battle, I will recover the time I lost and finish stronger next time. Just remember, it’s not always going to be rosy, but you have to keep pushing until the finish line. Giving up isn’t an option.
