I had a tough week last week.  I did a 5K last weekend and while I had a respectable time (20:01) I was a bit dejected at not breaking 20 minutes after all the work I had put into training leading up to my 10 miler and this 5K, I really thought I could have broken it.  So I went into the week of training with no plan set out, hoping to just get some decent mileage in and figure out where I wanted to go from here for the year. 

So I headed out last monday and only did 4 or so miles and it didnt feel that good. I was feeling a little lost in my running and while I had been tossing around the idea of another fall marathon this eyar, suddenly I had no desire to do it, no desire to run long, no desire to run at all.  Tuesday again, I headed out for a run at lunch, and it kind of felt like crap again, and I sunk a bit deeper into one of those "no motivation" depressions.

So wednesday I decided I was going to suck it up and do a long run - 13.1 miles.  I got my butt out of bed early and headed out (in the dark, which wasnt helping either) and it felt like total crap, I barely felt like I was crawling when I finished - everything hurt and I had no desire to put my shoes back on.  I didnt really consider ending my streak, but did consider maybe doing a couple weeks of just one milers to try to rejuvenate myself.

then I talked with a friend of mine (also a runner) and she asked how long my streak was now.  I thought about it and told her "4 years, 2 months, and change)" and she said "Wow, that's amazing."  I guess sometimes I just dont consider what we do as streakers amazing, but for those that dont do it, I guess it could be.  so I went home that night and opened up RA and went to our streak widget graph and I probably just stared at it for about 5 minutes.  And no, I wasnt staring at it saying "wow, i've run for longer than all these people below me on the graph" because I could just as easily gone to www.runeveryday.com and been 207th on a list.  I more looked at everyone else's streaks that were up to a year, 6 months, 2 months, even 14 days and thought  - "That is so cool"

thursday i went out at lunch and had a pretty decent run in the trails near my gym.  Friday I took it easy but got in about 8 miles.  And then Saturday I had the best run I can remember having in a while.  I headed out with some friends and joined them for the middle 11 miles of their long run.  It was nice to run with a group of people, talking, not worrying about pace, walking a few of the steeper hills, and just enjoying what we love - running.  When I left them, I had to run 4.4 miles back to my car and I felt so good I picked it up just a bit and ended up going 7:50s for that stretch of my run.

So my friend, and streaking really helped pull me out of the slump i was about to go into.  i still need to figure out what I am going to do with my running this year - the wife has kind of shot down my plans to run the Philly marathon in November, so I guess I need to figure it out.

Today I had an awesome tempo run on the treadmill (that's right, on the treadmill).  Here is the workout I did (taken from some trainign Naderalfie did in prep for his 5K PR last week)

1 mile easy 8:35 pace

5 mile steady 7:30 pace

1 mile easy 9:05 pace

1 mile hard 6:03 pace.

And I felt really good after it.

Thanks for listening, and just remember that streaking can be amazing.  there really arent that meany people out there that have done something like what we do every day - extend that streak.

Jeff

Oh, there it is -- you found your mojo again!!!

 

We all go through spells where we say WTF???  Glad it wasn't a long one...

Yeah, and hopefully it sticks around for a while this time. 

Glad you got your passion back! 

I do think from time to time running just sucks whether you are streaking or not.  I kind of think of it as a reminder of just how great running feels when everything clicks.  Bad runs do have a purpose! 

I was feeling much the same way last week.  I had hurt my leg and had to scale back a lot before last weekend's 50k.  Even my measly 4 mile run the day before felt like crap.  I had no idea how I was going to pull off 31 miles.  So . . . I just decided to go in to it with the attitude of having fun and running as far as I could.  Needless to say I PR by 15 minutes!!!  I do believe that streaking helped me maintain that level of fitness that someone else might not have had.

People ask me why I am keeping up the streak.  I really don't know, because there are a lot of days that I think it is stupid for me.  During this streak I haven't faced being sick or injured and having to do the really stupid stuff where you haul your ass out the door while you are hacking up a lung or limping, but I certainly could use some rest days.  I'm not very good at taking the 1 mile days, and really need to do better at that.  A 3 mile run at my usual pace is NOT a rest day for me. 

Jeff- awesome job and the streak really does provide a tool to keep up the running momentum even during the inevitable slumps.

Streaking has provided one benefit since I sprained/strained/hurt/tweaked my knee 10 days ago. It gets me to at least try (I've been telling everyone it's a "test" mile for my knee) to run every day. One day soon I may be surprised to feel less pain; even no pain at all. And even if I do quit at some point, I did reach 2 years today, so there's always that. But to AP's point, it is very difficult to give up this habit with so much time invested.

On a related topic, my doctor looked at my knee yesterday and referred me for x-rays and to an orthopedist. As I walked out I happened to mention running and he asked if I was doing "The Marathon". (That's what they call it around here, just "The Marathon"). I told him I was. He got all animated and asked his secretary to call the ortho and make sure to tell him that I needed to be seen right away because I was running "The Marathon" and had to have this issue looked at right away. I think it was the first time I'd seen my doctor even smile. It was kind of cool.