Mouthwatering Mango

So, apparently the combo of short and fast with plenty of rest was not such a winning combo...or pleasant combo anyway. For some reason, could be lack of sleep (maybe), stress from a hard day at work (unlikely!), or the shock from the switch to fast stuff from the last few weeks of higher and slower mileage (quite plausible), the workout last night did not go so hot. I felt heavy and as if I was muscling through the intervals. Not the light and relaxed that I wanted to feel. I did practice some slightly different styles of striding; trying to open up my stride and get more out of my arms on the accelerations and I did still put in a good effort, but it didn't just feel great.
It's times like these that I (and others) have to remind myself to believe in the stuff I was talking about last blog: that progress will come through seemingly ordinary training efforts. Such a workout - when you look at your splits (times) for the intervals and think how hard they felt, yet know that you somehow will have to string a couple of those types of efforts together in a race - can sometimes be dispairing! I know that training is not racing; there are many factors that change, both mentally and physically, when you get into a race - but one is always trying to translate training times into race times and extrapolate into the future. As in yesterday's case it can be a fruitless and depressing exercise.

Fear not though, its not all that bad: I had a delicious mango after the workout. Perfectly ripe, juicy, and cold from a day in the fridge..I would probably have done that workout over again just for a single slice of that succulent fruit! Small blessings!

The morning after: it continues to amaze me how the body forgives and forgets and the turmoil you have put it through... my legs feel surprisingly good today and I am planning to have a big day: 70mins easy. It will be my longest day all season, a new challenge for this EMIP!

Be Easy.