WW04: Jan 19-25 + a race report

Only 10hrs and 12min of training this week due to a rest day and easing up for the 3M Half Marathon this morning.

Overachieved this week and got 26.3 miles total, so still on track with a little buffer now.

Work has been getting more and more stressful and it's a good day when I can get out to do my training sessions when I planned them. Overall, life is pretty exhausting - physically from training and mentally from work - with not much time to recover. I'm either sleeping, working, or training.

I dislike not being able to give my all in races; I pay money and get up early to do them so I want to be able to give my best effort. However, even I have a mental limit, and I hit mine this past Friday at work. Then, all the Saturday errands, plus needing to do some work and knowing I'd be working Sunday afternoon after the race definitely did not help with the mental exhaustion or getting me in the right mindset for the race. Originally my goal had been 1:30-1:35, so with the recent events, I went in hoping for a sub-1:35 but not really knowing what was going to happen.

The start was cold; I had on a long-sleeved Atomic shirt, long capris, and compression socks plus a throwaway hoodie on top. I started with the 1:35 pace group but going strong at the start has never been a strength, and my feet were frozen. So I let them go and ran with a friend for about the first 5-6 miles. Overall, ended up slightly under pacing the first half.

Around mile 6 the legs decided they were ready to start moving, so I picked it up. And in typical Amy fashion, I ran out of miles to quite make it in the 1:35 target. But back to the mental fatigue - it was definitely a challenge the whole way through to keep my mind keep going. My legs have run 13.1 miles many times over, at slower paces for sure, but I was confident they would survive the distance. It was one of those "meh" races. I know in other scenarios my brain would have locked on the sub-1:35 goal and I'd have executed better, but this time my all  to give was a lot less all.

Part of my disappointment lies in that 3M is known as a PR course - it's net downhill with no steep uphills. I've been running more this year, yet it's less than 3 minutes faster than the Austin half last year. And, so far, not even sore. I'm exhausted from getting up early and all the work, but not the satisfying leg soreness that comes from a great workout.