1/2 Marathon Training - dodgeball, elliptical, 4 miles

I wanted to run Thursday...really, I did.  But Thursday was a hard, long day, and I laid upstairs on my bed for a few hours before finally deciding at 7:45 to get on the elliptical before heading to dodgeball for our 8:45 game.  It was a nice little warm up before our game, but I've come to realize that I really kind of suck at dodgeball.  Ha! 

Yesterday I was able to leave work around 3:40 because I had worked too much for the week, so I decided to get in a 4 mile run before taking Brooke and her cousin to Wild West Night at her school.  The run felt difficult today and I'm not sure why.  I felt like I was really pushing myself and not getting much in return.  I had a healthy breakfast (smoothie, like everyday), and a simple lunch (sandwich), and a lot of water all day. But still, it just felt hard....my lungs felt strained and my legs felt weak and in the end I felt disappointed that I didn't run as fast as Wednesday and at the end of 4 miles all I wanted was to be done.  Maybe it's because Wednesday's run was SO SO good, which is weird to me because despite my healthy breakfast, I had a fairly unhealthy lunch (mmm pork salad from Cafe Rio!).  Perhaps I need to eat Cafe Rio more often?  Oh, ok!  For real, I am in love with that place.  Anyway, onto the stats:

4 miles in 45:52
Avg - 11:25/mile
HR high - 171
HR avg - 166
Calories burned - 599

I got up this morning to make coffee and start on this blog and realized I was being ridiculous about how disappointed I was in myself about yesterday's run.  These are some things I need to remember:
1) I ran 4 miles and just a few weeks ago I was ecstatic that I had worked up to this distance.
2) I still averaged under 12 min/mile which is great!
3) My heart rate was just fine - I wasn't putting too much strain on my body at all, especially for a late afternoon run.
4) I need to relax and and not worry about how fast I'm going.  Really, my goal is to finish the 1/2 marathon and not worry about how fast I'm going to finish it.

As for today, I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to run this morning or if I'm going to wait until tomorrow.  I don't typically like to run 2 days in a row and I have been really careful not to run my long run the day after I've run at all...I'll let you know how that works out!  Oh yeah, I need to go get some more Clif shots, so I'll have to wait until at least later this afternoon....

21 days until the Indy Monumental!