(well it's easier to say that than to suggest it might be my deficiencies).
This morning I had a couple of errands in town so decided to run to the post office then, after doing my bits and pieces, run home through the park. The downside of this is that the High Street is on a gentle uphill slope. You don't notice it when you walk but it's relentless if you're running. I set off feeling pretty pleased with my plan but...oh, my legs felt like lead.
I mean really, really heavy. I probably didn't drink enough water yesterday and Garmin tells me my body battery was only on about 60% but it wasn't like I was setting off to do a marathon so I should have been fine. Oh no, each time my feet hit the ground it was all I could do to lift them again.
The upside was that once I'd finished my chores it would be downhill all the way home. During the interval at the shops I think my body had decided I'd stopped for the day, HR was down to resting pace and so it felt like I had the Toxic 10 all over again once I restarted the run. Plod, plod, plod, it really should be getting better by now.
After a long downhill slope through the park I felt a bit better and carried on to complete 3k. I got to thinking about why today was so tough and realised that I've had my shoes since September 2023. I didn't do a lot of running last year but I've read that just aging will take the bounce out of a pair of running shoes over time (like me really lol). Once home I took them off and tried folding them toe to heel. Hardly any resistance at all. Culprit identified.
Luckily it's my birthday next month so that's my present sorted out. Will post when I get them and in the meantime I'll be wearing my 'holiday' running shoes, cheaper, flimsier but fine for the shorter runs I'm doing at the moment.
Definitely gonna blame the shoes