Punishment for the quads!

I was actually looking forward to this weeks tempo run.  It was 2 miles easy with 3 miles at tempo pace and then 2 miles easy to cool down.  Much better than the 8 miles last week.  So why was it such a hard day?  The 2 easy miles even started out hard and then it seemed bearable until I had to crank it up for the 3 miles.  They seemed unbearable, my legs were like lead again and I might as well have been running in quicksand.  So during the last 2 laps I finally just turned down the speed.  I was starting to get a side ache and had just had enough.  The last 2 miles were o.k., but they were pretty slow.  Maybe it's all the Easter candy I've been horking down during the day and my legs are still sore from Monday's plyometrics.  I really debated whether to do them again today or not in light of my run on Saturday.  I had to do weights today so I was trying to decide if I should just keep punishing my body until it gets used to it, or to back off and give it some rest.  After much deliberation, I decided that doing something different for weights will be good for my body in the long run (not the one on Saturday ha! ha!) and so I did a watered down version of plyometrics and then lifted for my upper body.  I just hope my body can adjust quickly as the weeks are counting down until the fist marathon.  I'm starting to get a little nervous!  

And it's always hard when I can't meet with exactness the specifications of the program.  It's easy to get down.  I just need to remember that I'm doing the best I can and really, that's all I can expect.  It's hard not to compare myself with others, but I'm learning and teaching myself that it's my pride that makes me feel bad.  C. S. Lewis said it well when he said, "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man...It is the comparison that makes you proud; the pleasure of being above the rest.  Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone."  I read the talk on pride by President Benson last week and have been pondering on it since then.  I love where he says "The proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not.  Their self esteem is determined by where they are judged to be on the ladders of worldly success.  They feel worthwhile as individuals if the numbers beneath them in achievement, talent, beauty, or intellect are large enough.  Pride is ugly.  It says, "If you succeed, I am a failure."  If we love God, do His will, and fear His judgment more than men's, we will have self esteem."  I need to remember why I run in the first place.  It's not to be faster than anyone else, or even beat my previous times.  It's because I love to run and the way it makes me feel.  It's shown and taught me so many lessons that I don't know if I would have learned any other way.  Pride is truly something I need to work on everyday of my life.  I'm so grateful for modern prophets to give me instruction on how to overcome myself.

7:30 Kashi cereal with blueberries and milk and vitamins

9:00 run with 12 oz. accelerade

10:30 1/2 serving Endurox R4

11:15 starving so drank 4 oz. juice mixed with 1/2 scoop protein powder