My bike ride this morning was both long and challenging.  It included numerous hard intervals, that left my legs feeling very tired.  When I started my run this afternoon, it was tough because my legs were dead.  I was struggling but then it turned into a surprising run.

I began my run, several hours after my bike ride.  My coach wanted me to run in the heat of the day, in order to simulate the conditions I will likely see in Chattanooga.  In addition, to further simulate my upcoming race, I chose to run a very hilly route.

Ten minutes into my run, I was regretting my choice of route.  My legs were feeling very tired,  my pace was really slow and I had lots of hills ahead of me.  I kept pushing forward and eventually made it to the the part of the run, with steepest hill.  As I ran up that hill, my willpower gave way, and I started to walk.  I was at the furthest point of the run from my house and was mentally in a bad spot.  I stopped running.

As I stood there in the shade of a tree, I pulled myself together and started running again.  In my mind, I was thinking that it felt like the end of a marathon run.  I just had to keep running. Soon I would be over and I would be home. I did keep running and then a strange thing happened.

After three miles, I found that I was able to pick up the pace slightly.  Half a mile later, I was running even faster. Another half mile after that, I was going faster still.  My legs had completely come around and I finished the run with a huge negative split. 

I was quite shocked at what had happened. It really was a surprising run, but I’ll take it.  I wonder if it will happen again in my race?