Short Distance Challenged

It's no secret on this blog that I kinda suck at short distances.  For whatever reason, this short body of mine was meant to go long, albeit slow, but long.  Example: my full marathon PR is 6:46.  That's nearly SEVEN hours.  See what I mean by long and slow??  Anyways, back to the short of things.  I've never enjoyed 5Ks.  Even a 4 miler is questionable.  I don't get warmed up until AFTER I hit the 3 mile mark so you can imagine how frustrating a 5K race can be for me.

I've really been struggling to get all of my workouts in right now and I'm basically in survival mode.  I'm doing what I can so I survive this triathlon.  Come to think of it, my whole life is in survival mode.  I cannot wait for the month of May to be OVER.  I needed to get out on the trail last night both for my sanity and for training purposes.  I set out to just do 3 miles because I still needed to get home and eat dinner and do a million other things.  I wasn't expecting magic but I also wasn't expecting shin splints to leave me temporarily handicapped.  I'm not kidding!  About 3/4 of a mile into the run, my shins were on fire.  I tried slowing down but I eventually had to stop.  I stretched and walked...sort of.  I was hobbling.  I limped along while my legs remembered how to work and then tried to run again.  Yowza.  I ran some but took another walk break as I approached the 1.5 mile mark.  I told myself I was going to walk until the pain eased up.  When I reached the turnaround, my legs were still cranky.  I couldn't come out here and do 3 miserable miles.  I knew it would make me feeling worse than if I would have skipped the entire workout.  I knew if I did 4 miles, I would at least feel better for that last mile since the 3 mile mark is usually when I find my rhythm.

I finally started running again and was able to run almost the entire trip back (I was secretly very happy when I had to stop to wait for traffic).  And sure enough, just past mile 3, I was pain free and feeling comfortable.  I could have kept going (minus the hunger).  I felt much better that I opted for an additional mile and that the last mile didn't suck.  Maybe I need to start finding a way to work for 4-5 milers in during the week....ha.  More time?  That's a funny one.  Maybe next month.

And you all know how easily I'm amused...and how I hate hills  I loved the elevation chart the Garmin spit out after my run.  And yet another reminder why I love the elevation-challenged Central Ohio:

My run had an elevation gain of 6 feet.  SIX.  And based on this chart, it sort of looks like I stopped and jumped in the air and then kept running.  I'm also not sure of the accuracy of this chart since I did an out and back and turned around at mile 2.  Maybe on side of the trail is lopsided?  Yeay for six feet of elevation gain.  And boo to the fact that I DIE when faced with hills during a race.  ;)