Well that kind of sucked – back of my thighs kept wanting to cramp up – still got my 5 miles in but it was slooow

Tough run tonight – needed to do 5 miles for my Goofy Challenge training and I wanted to do some hill work while I was on the treadmill but after about a mile in the backs of my thighs kept trying to cramp up.  They never did fully cramp but I kept having to slow down and walk things out for a bit.

I did get some decent hill stretches in – 8 mph at 3% for 3 minutes and 7.5 mph at 3% for a similar period – but not as much as I wanted.  Still got the miles in and the average pace doesn’t really look horrible but it is nowhere near where I wanted to be tonight.

Could be a couple things going on here that were messing with my legs:

1. lots of snow shovelling in the past few days and that worked the whole body differently than it is used to
2. Could be burning out a bit – last week was supposed to be a slower week in my schedule giving me a break before the tough week this week but I pushed it to get some of the miles back that I missed in the previous couple weeks.  That could be biting me.
3. Didn’t eat proper today – I had an ok breakfast of eggs and a protein shake but didn’t get time for any snacks or lunch today at work – so even though I had a good supper my system wouldn’t have been properly fuelled
4. Had a pretty hefty supper – we had pizza from a local place that does not skimp on the toppings – I think I had 5 pieces in the end after not eating properly through the day.  So even though we got the thin crust that would still have been a lot sitting in the belly being worked on.

All told it probably is a combination of degrees of all of the things above.  I am going to watch all those things and work on the items I can fix.  So for 1. above – I live in Canada so snow will happen and I will just have to get used to it.  For #2 – I just need to get through this weekend now and I will on a lighter week that I will have to take advantage of to rest up again.  For #3 – I know I have to watch my eating habits at work and will have to continue to do so.  And finally #4 – fixing #3 will help but at least I know I have fuel in my system for my body to recover quickly…

So – not a total loss of a run and I got some needed reminders about my diet – call today a draw I think.