Ouch, that hurt!

As I move forward with my half-marathon training, it's always interesting to experience what my body goes through when I do something out of the ordinary that affects my running.

Like yesterdays 5... er... 3 miler, for example:

My schedule called for a total of 5 miles with an easy jog to start and end the run. Since Tuesday morning, and through most of the day Wednesday (run day), I didn't eat as well as I should have. My meals were sort of small, and not the usual menu I use to prepare for longer runs. A lot of this had to do with a hectic schedule at work early this week, and then some "extra-curricular" activities after work leading up to Wednesday.

Well, as I started my evening run, my legs started to feel like lead weights around mile 2! I was really struggling to make it past 3 miles, and ended up making a last minute turn for home for a total of only 3 miles. I was a bit disappointed and spent the next few minutes going over in my head what may have gone wrong. Three miles for me has gotten easy, but I was having a REALLY hard time:

1. Fuel!: Although I wasn't completely hungry before my run, I realized afterwards that I hadn't eaten as well as I normally do. I think I was starved for energy.

2. Rushing through my warm up: I had to leave for a meeting shortly after my run, so I think I was in a rush and may not have warmed up enough considering I was running outside in chilly temps.

3. Lack of fluids: Just wasn't drinking enough water and was dehydraded. Period.

It's amazing how much discipline is needed to keep all of this up. It's good for me, no doubt, but if I stray just for a bit, my training suffers.

Ah well, lesson learned. I'll make it up on my six mile run Saturday!