20K with sore hamstrings

I am tired from yesterday's race. My hamstrings are quite sore. And I'm not used to back-to-back training sessions (yet). So I approached today's 20K with some apprehension, remembering that 2 times ago I had GI issues, and last time I was painfully slow.

It was warm (59F) and sunny when I left, though the sun wasn't peeking up above the mountains yet. I brought 16 oz of water & ate a banana before I left; also packed 2 pkg of Jelly Belly Sports Beans.

I started off OK, but knowing it was going to be a challenge. My hamstrings (especially the left) were sore with every step, and I tried not to think about them too much. I am not worried about injury or anything; I can tell that it's just sore muscles, but that didn't make me feel better about 20K with them. By the time I got to 5K, I knew this one was not going to be fast. I eased off a little, hoping to avoid the crash at the end like last week.

To make a long story short, by 8.5k my legs were really heavy. I ate 1 pkg of jelly beans, hoping the carbs would help. I hoped so or I knew I wouldn't make 20k. Soon I was feeling better, thankfully. At 11.3k I took a brief pit stop and refilled one of my water bottles. It was humid this morning (even right now it's 61%, which is humid for here) and I was sweating a lot, so I knew I needed to drink more.

I stayed feeling OK until 15k when the legs got heavy again, so I took some more jelly beans. I know this sounds crazy, but the points-counting part of me hates that I have to spend 5 points (1 for banana, 4 for jelly beans) to get through a workout. I do it because I know I have to, but I hate eating when I don't really get to enjoy the food. Oh well...part of the deal I guess. It really did perk me up again to have the jelly beans, and the last 5K was easier than I thought. Don't get me wrong, it was not EASY, just tolerable. I was working pretty hard and my legs were feeling it for sure, plus the last 2K is uphill a fair amount.

When I got back home, the song playing on my iPod was "Feeling Stronger Every Day" by Chicago. I had to laugh, because I felt it was mocking me. I'm definitely not feeling stronger every day; I'm still getting used to the new training schedule. I admit when I first looked over the schedule I thought that it was hard, but I also was so excited to do it and so happy to RW again that I was probably overly confident in my ability to do it. Now I'm finding it somewhat daunting, so I just try to take it one workout at a time, and remember that what doesn't kill me will make me stronger. Hopefully I will FEEL stronger soon. I will also admit that I spent a good portion of today's workout ruminating about why I am doing this. All those hard workouts over the past month, and only 6 seconds off my 5K time. Is it worth it? Of course, if one takes the long-term perspective, it is. I have to be patient to see the improvement come. When I was teaching my piano student yesterday, I was talking to him about muscle memory when playing the piano, and about how suddenly everything will "click" and you'll get the tough passage mastered. I realized immediately that was a perfect analogy for my racewalking, too. I have to be patient and do the hard workouts, not seeing much progress for a while, and then, suddenly, it will "click". That's what my coach says, anyway, and it makes sense. I'm sure it's true. I just don't want to wait for it! And my body hurts. Good thing tomorrow is an "optional" day. I'll do some light weights and maybe take a bike ride. Nothing more.

Oh, one more thing. I hate humidity. I'm glad I was only doing 20K, because I started to have chafing on my thighs. UGH! It's not too bad, but could have been worse. I also drank about 24 oz and was still 2 lb lighter when I got home than when I left; my shirt was drenched in sweat.

Oh, my times and splits? (Yeah, my coach probably wants me to post them!). Total time 2:13:36; ave pace 6:40/km, ave HR 145, 1494 calories burned. Splits here.