Last week's mileage was only 39. Between the heat and general tiredness last week after my half marathon on September 19th, I had kind of an off week.

On Saturday, I ran the Alliance for the Arts 10K in Thousand Oaks.  The 10K was simply a hard training run for me with a goal of sharpening my speed for my December marathon.  I knew I wasn't fully recovered from half marathon, but I signed up awhile back and decided it would be better to run a 10K than to do a long run this weekend.

I was surprised on Saturday morning because when I woke up, I actually felt pretty good...light on my feet and not as overwhelmingly tired as I had felt most of the week.  That was at 6:45 a.m. Two hours until the start of the 10K.

After messing around, socializing, etc., it was finally time for the 10K at 8:45 a.m. By then, it was getting pretty warm out; mid to upper 70s, close to 80.  I was nonchalant all morning, and the only thing I ate was a McDonald's sausage biscuit, hash brown and iced coffee.  (Don't ask...I rarely eat at McD's, but I was impulsive that morning.) In hindsight I should have had more water.

So I started out running pretty well, actually leading the race at the halfway 5K mark in about 18:30, but I started feeling parched somewhere around 2 1/2 miles into the race. But then, all hell broke loose with my body.  I was downright thirsty. And pooped.  A dummy light went on that told me to check my fluid levels. But I wasn't about to stop at that point.  I just dragged my body along to finish. The 2nd 5K was about 21:10.  The winner ran strong and consistently the whole race.  I managed to finish 2nd.

The point of all this is...the body is unpredictable.  I didn't feel good in the days leading up to the 10K. I felt pretty good before the race. But halfway into the race I blew a gasket.

This past Monday, I was so tired I could barely get out the door. Big party at the house on Sunday, up late cleaning, half the family was sick, etc.  I really didn't feel like running off my 5 hours' sleep.

Oddly enough, I felt GOOD on my Monday morning trail run! Heck, I could have run 2 hours (if it weren't for having a job to get to).  I never would have predicted it.  I felt energized and lean all day on Monday.

Lesson Learned:  All I know is, it is had to predict how I will feel on a given day. But I suppose what I should focus in on are the factors that I CAN control...get enough sleep, rest, nutrition, etc.