Cowboy Hazel

My running has been quite uninspiring this week. I don't know exactly what's going on, but it has me worried. Paces that should normally be easy have become difficult and paces that are normally difficult have slipped my grasp. I am really starting to worry that this slump may not pass before my race on Sunday.

Saturday and Sunday, I just ran maintenance/recovery miles and did a ton of short sprints in the midst of my football game. I took Monday off, then did four miles at 7:04 Tuesday. This run should have been cake, but it really wore me out. Wednesday morning, Sarah and I were supposed to do intervals, but neither of us were feeling it, so we ended up going for a ridiculously slow 6-miler instead. I went looking through my running log to see when the last time I'd run that slow was and gave up after searching back almost a year. Even so, I was wheezing and out of breath the whole run. It definitely had me worried.

Today, I decided that I wanted to find out exactly where I stand, so I went out for a 5.5 mile tempo run. I was planning on doing an optimistic race pace (of my 10-miler on Sunday). I kept the first 3 miles in the 6:20-6:30 range but then completely ran out of steam and limped home at an average of 6:58/mile the last 2.5. What the hell is happening? I definitely should have been able to sustain sub 6:30 for 5.5 miles.

I keep running through my head all the symptoms and possible causes. In addition to the respiratory issues, my muscles have been much achier than normal (even ones you don't normally associate with running: back, arms, etc.), and I've been requiring even more sleep than I normally do. Nothing's really changed in my training or diet. I suppose I could be eating slightly healthier or drinking a bit less Scotch, but all in all, I think my diet is very good. I've been taking the vitamins and protein shakes as always. I don't think I'm getting sick – I could be wrong of course, but I just don't feel like it. So what then?

The only answer that's coming to mind scares the hell out of me... I think it's because of the heat. I never do well in any temps above the low thirties and it's been well above that lately. If the weather is indeed the cause for this, I'm in trouble... It's supposed to be 66 degrees on Sunday in D.C. If I'm struggling because of low fifties, how am I going to be able to handle that? And, more importantly, what about Delaware (which is still over a month away) or Chicago this fall? Those will certainly be hot. Will I be able to handle 26.2 in the heat?

Or is it somthing else? What? How do I fix it?