A day where I just didn't have it in me

I try to make sure that I get at least 1 hour of cardio a day and some days I feel like I could easily do 2 hours or even more such as the day where I made my own triathlon and got through it with relative ease.

Then two days ago I went on an "Ice bottle run" where everything just fell into place. My pace was accidentally really good, I wasn't hurting, and when the initial 5k was done I didn't really feel the need to stop, so I didn't. That was a good day and therefore when it came time to head out and run again yesterday I was confident. I thought that I have this in the bag, no sweat.

Well, there was always going to be a lot of sweat but what I hadn't planned on was that my body just didn't really want to cooperate and my head was definitely not in the game.

This run was so awful that I started to have flashbacks to when I first transitioned to cardio and seriously struggled to go so much as a single kilometer without gassing out. My legs felt heavier than they normally are, I was struggling with the movement, the songs weren't having their usual motivational sensation on me and I felt like even my form and foot placement was off. It didn't take me very long to slow to a walk and reassess the entire thing.

I was able to keep my heart rate at a more reasonable level and I suppose that is good, but there were times that I really wanted to just give up and I wasn't even working very hard. There were a few moments when a good song would come on where I would feel like my real motivation was incoming but then it would fade and I was back to feeling like every step I took there was a weight pack on each one of my legs and every step was a huge chore.

I found some level of inspiration around km number 5 but that was short lived. I didn't even bother cutting the time off at 5km and starting a new one because this whole thing was such a disappointment compared to other runs I have been having recently.

Real trainers and sport-scientists say that rest periods are just as important or perhaps even more important than your active times and yes, I realize I should probably pay better attention to that. I guess I got ahead of myself because I was looking at a week or so in a row of doing 5kms at sub 7-minute per km jogs. I definitely didn't accomplish that yesterday and no matter how I adjusted things it didn't seem like I "had it in me" at all yesterday. I feel as though I probably looked like I was doing an old man shuffle rather than a jog as well.

Days like this don't make me want to quit though, they make me feel like I need to accept the fact that I cannot run like this every single day and I need to take some time off.

I know this, but I am stubborn. Sometimes I feel like I can break the mold David Goggins style but that definitely was not the case yesterday.

This was my worst run in months and for a bit there I thought maybe I was coming down with a cold or something but thankfully, that is not the case.

I think I'll just take a couple of days off and focus on stretching and maybe some light strength training in the gym rather than pushing myself with any more jogging. We'll see if this makes a difference and 2 days from now I am back to good form.