Hard run struggled to slow down

Every now and then I really struggle with my run. I was down to do a 4.5 mile slow run. I went out after eating 1/2 banana, a glucose tablet and a cup of decaf tea. I had my music in my ears and went off with hubs garmin as mine had no battery (I felt that way too). A mile in and I had to drop a letter in the doctors surgery and a quick loo stop. Then carried on with a newish route which could be extended if I felt it was going well. At 2 miles I felt like this run was hard work and my breathing hard work too. It felt like I couldn't take deep enough breathes. I tried slowing up but I really struggled to do this as I just couldn't gauge my pace. At 3.1 miles (5k) my time was 30 minutes, it seems that even with me trying to slow down I was still flying. I felt tense and had lots of annoyances with music, headphones, clothes etc that I just couldn't relax. I decided to cut the run slightly short at 4.39 miles instead of going on to 7.5 miles as it just wasn't working out. I got home and hubs sorted the garmin to get my stats. I did 4.39 miles in 43 minutes with a pace of 9.54 min/mile. Average cadence was 185, pretty close to the ideal 180 steps per min. My average heart rate was 167 bpm putting me in zone 4 (although the garmin reads a bit higher). I just don't know why it didn't work out so well today.

[ju-ju- Graduate10]

Thats a good time and distance.... sometimes its really hard to pinpooint why we dont relax into the run. I often have a stop, calm my breathing and stretch. Then I count to make myself go slower. ... hopefully your next run will feel better

[Hidden in reply to ju-ju-]

Thanks Ju-ju. I just cant work it out why i have runs like this. I guess it constitutes a fast training run and at least I didn't give up at 2 miles! Like you say hopefully my next run will be great. I just need to work out how to turn it around during the run. My worry is I have a day like this for an event (training for hm next year) and I can't turn it around.

[Decker]

That does seem like a very quick pace over a distance like that! - It was probably wise to stop if it was all feeling wrong as that is possibly the time an injury could show up, when you are feeling distracted and running faster than you want to. I had struggled to slow down earlier on too - now my problem is to get faster again! On the easy runs, my legs got used to the 7+km/min pace and I want them to be closer to the 6km range now. I am not ready for that pace just yet beyond 5k Its hard to stay in that sweet spot so I am trying to use a pace alarm on my watch which reminds me just how much I fluctuate. I hope your next run feels more in the zone!

[Hidden in reply to Decker]

I have a pace alert setting on my garmin fr10 which I could set up again, I used it before for faster 10min/miles. I was using hubs garmin fr235 today so nothing was set up and it was a bit alien to me. The stats looked pretty good except too fast today! I feel good that I went out but I got really cold when I got back in. Maybe my body is fighting off a bug, we shall see.

[Decker in reply to Hidden]

Yes you got out and that's important - I know you'll be back to normal soon. It sounds like you've had a very hectic life lately, so you may be running a bit thin and possibly fighting off something like you say.