You Hurt Me, Little 5k!

Yesterday I felt like I was in a daze all day. I went to bed the night before feeling really stressed and worried about little Jessica (see yesterday's post), and really late. Then the kids just kept waking up so I didn't really get to sleep until 1 or 2. By then I had turned my alarm clock off and decided to skip swimming in the morning.

While I was sleeping through my swim workout, I had a pretty stressful dream:

I was half-way through the run portion of a Half Ironman. It was a two-loop course, and for some reason, I had stopped after the first loop to sit with Pete and take a break. We were just sitting at a picnic table hanging out when this guy came and joined us. I don't know who he was, but in my dream, we knew him. He was a pro and he had just finished. Finally I decided I should get on with it and finish my run, and I remembered saying, "it's only a half" for some reason. I went to start running and I just could not get my legs moving very fast! Then I got to the portion of the run where you had to climb up this cliff (?), and as I was climbing it, it was like blankets were falling out from under me. I looked down and noticed that Elle was in those blankets and fell down with them. Luckily she didn't get hurt or anything, but I realized that she was doing the race too. We had 6 miles left, and I was like, "She can't run 6 miles!" so I was going to carry her, and that's about where I woke up. It was very surreal, but I was also feeling really stressed because I couldn't really run fast, and then I had all this extra stuff to worry about.

I hate stressful dreams, they leave me feeling stressed out for the rest of the day! Not only was I stressed out, I felt sick enough to want to stay in bed all day, but not sick enough to feel good about missing my 3rd workout in a row. I ended up feeling a little better in the evening, and Pete and I got to go to a movie so that was really fun. Though the movie, Couple's Retreat, was pretty disappointing. I was really annoyed with all the raunchy stuff in it that could have been left out and it would have been a good movie.

This morning I just needed to do a 5k. Since I didn't have a race to sign up for, I would just do my own little 5k. When I say "little," that's really what I was thinking. "Three miles? Psha, I can knock that out, no problem!" Just like in my dream!

I started off feeling good, and ran for a little less than a mile to warm up at a pretty good pace. I started the timer when I got to the bike path, but only ended up running on it for a little while before deciding it was too icy and heading back to the street.

I just ran around, trying to avoid any stopping for traffic, but I was having a really hard time keeping my pace up! I really want to shoot for 8:45 for my 10k, but I wasn't even able to do that for this 5k. I just couldn't get my legs moving very fast! Just like in my dream! I pushed a little harder at the end, but by then I felt like I was going to throw up and my head was going to explode. I had to just stop and walk home as soon as I hit 3.1 miles.

Mile Splits:

1. 8:30 (this one was the speed I wanted, I was so happy, but apparently it was too fast!)
2. 9:21
3. 9:05
4. :52

Distance: 3.1 Miles (5k)
Time: 27:50
Average Pace: 8:58 min/mile

I was really disappointed when I got home, almost to the point of crying. I did 5k back in November (almost exactly 2 months ago) in 26.14! I was more than a minute and a half slower today, and it was so hard!! What the heck? Have I been doing all this speed work for nothing? I'm going to play the, "I'm sick" card, even though I'm not really sick. I just haven't been feeling like myself lately. It's hard not to feel really discouraged, though. I hope I'm feeling better next week to get back to work!