Malfunction or Just Mal"run"ction?

I'm sure you're groaning at the title, so if you're still reading, I'm sorry. But, I can't be hilariously witty all the time and after all, you didn't pay to read this. (You didn't, right?)
So I went out for my Tuesday run, which this week is 4 miles. Since I took it late at night and we have York Revolution playoff tickets tomorrow and Thursday nights, I suspect this week's 4-8-4 will become 4 tonight and 8 on Thursday morning.

This wasn't one of my best efforts. The weather wasn't quite as good as it had been for my last three runs -- 64 degrees and 90 percent humidity. Not awful -- especially with no sun to make it feel warmer -- but definitely a step down from the high 40s/low 50s that I got on Thursday and Saturday.
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Still, the weather alone doesn't explain my slower than usual pace: 4-miles in 40:46. I think Garmin screwed me, though. What it measured as one mile as I ran from the high school into downtown Manchester measured as only 0.7 miles on the way back. So, maybe I ran 4.3 miles. Either way, though, my calves were not feeling great on this one and I was a lot more winded than I should have been on a 4-mile run.

I'm not going to be discouraged by it. There are several things going on right now that I could see contributing to a sub-par run. I had a great, tough week of running last week starting with the previous weekend's 15 and ending with my faster-than-usual 13.1 on Saturday; have basically been in "panic mode" at work all September; had a great, exhausting Super Adventure Weekend (good run, day trip to Philly ending w/a night baseball game, busy Sunday of homeless kitties, York Fair, Revs Game, and Eagles game); and am struggling with either worse-than-usual allergies or a little bit of a cold that I'm guessing is related to rapidly changing weather.

17 miles on Saturday? No problem. I got this.

And because I don't have any running-related pictures today, here's an especially cute picture of Higgy the Cat.

(How is this comfortable?)

In my next blog post: Things I Ate at the York Fair

Saturday Long Run: Four-Mile Failure

I was scheduled for 14 miles today. I stopped at 10. The big, black clouds and increasingly booming thunder that was being down on Manchester just gave me an excuse. There was no way I was going to be able to finish 14 miles today.

My confidence is kind of shaken right now. I'm not sure if I should try 14 again on Monday or just wait until next week's long run, which is 15 miles. I know that 'm probably over-reacting to one bad long run, but I'm not sure I could have gone 11 today, much less 14.

I don't want to panic. There are a few extenuating circumstances that I have to be sure not to repeat this coming week and beyond:

1. I ran 10 humid miles on Saturday, and then we were without power on Monday and Tuesday. Since we didn't have plumbing and I had to go and work from my parents' house, I didn't get out for a run either of those mornings. Of course, both days were cool and beautiful. I got out 10 in on Wednesday, but didn't have time on Thursday. I need to get more than one midweek run in or I'm setting myself up for failure.

2. I need to eat healthier on Friday nights. Pizza, beer, ice cream the night before long run isn't going to cut it. I know...pretty obvious, right?

3. I need a little bit of luck. One of these weeks I'll have a Saturday morning that's not oppressively humid, right?

4. PT Exercises. I do my IT band stretching and foam rolling before every run, but I need to get back to doing the step-ups, step-downs, balance exercises and core exercises. In October 2010, I bombed pretty badly on my 7-mile leg of the Baltimore Marathon Relay. That bad run was a wake-up call that I was a long way from ready for the Philly Half. I came back strong and ran the best race of my mediocre career. There's a lot of work to be done, but I have the benefit of time.

(Sometimes, you're just better off staying in -- or hiding under the -- bed.)