Day 184.

Today I had another 3 miler on the schedule.  I warmed up with 10 minutes of Pilates before heading out.  I had decided to give it a little gusto, hoping to get a good time, since it was a short run.  I pushed myself, or so I thought, going at about 80-90% for pretty much the whole run.  When I finished, I was dripping with sweat and was breathing a little harder than I usually am when I finish a run.  I even ran until I reached 3.1 miles, just to make it an official 5K distance.  Well, apparently I'm just a slow runner.  33 minutes.  When I downloaded my run stats from my Garmin, I averaged a 10:30 min/mile pace.  That's faster than my long distance running pace, but still pretty slow for a 5K.  My confidence has taken a hit.  I feel less than average right now.  I think that I'm afraid to push too hard for fear of getting an injury, since my left leg is already on the precipice of breakdown.  I just have to keep reminding myself that my ultimate goal here and now is to finish a marathon, and not be too concerned with speed.  Once I've established myself as a runner (basically, consistent running for more than year), then maybe I can start doing some speed work.

After my run I did workout 3 from 30 Day Shred, and I also did an additional 15 minutes of Yoga after that.  Long run tomorrow...another 13 miler.