Post-Duathlon Long Runs

I've had 2 long runs since the Fall Classic Duathlon that was 2.5 weeks ago.

On Oct 16th, I had a decent long run. Very normal. After a late summer of FAST long runs, this one was "up there" but far from fastest (I had a lot with 6 "pace miles" around 6:02 - 6:07 pace). This run was 11.54 miles in 1:18:27 (6:48 pace overall) with the middle 6 miles in 36:58 (6:09.7 pace).

Out-and-back with the fast 6 miles west of the river.

(Everything south of the bridge in the middle [Lake Street] was done in total dark as there are still no working street lights along the river there. It was a run at 5:50 and I worried about tripping!)

My long run this week (Oct 23rd) wasn't nearly as good. I'm still feeling some "over-training" (or at least "not properly rested up" effects that I posted about in this post and this post last week, and I felt it 2 days ago. My pace miles just felt sloggish, and I couldn't get anything going. I even slept in and did this run in the daylight hours which felt WEIRD! It was my first training run after sunrise in a LONG time... like seriously, I don't know when. I had a run in July that started at 7:00 a.m. when most everything has been in the 5 or 6 a.m. hour, so that run 3 months ago was my latest in recent history. (And in the daylight hours, I saw my turkey friends by the river, a soaring bald eagle, and even ran next to a coyote that was just 10-15 feet away that paralleled me for a few seconds!) Anyway, this run was 11.37 miles in 1:18:56 (6:57 pace overall) with the middle 5 miles in 31:23 (6:16.6 pace). That's been more of my "normal" pace for those harder miles until later this summer when I really was able to pick it up. And notice I didn't last for 6 harder miles, only 5. I was TOAST after 4 miles and was happy I held on for 1 more.

I need to figure something out: either back off on the training a bit (which I thought by missing some strength workouts and 2 bike workouts last week because we were in Chicago that it would work itself out naturally) and/or get some better sleep and/or do some more active recovery (like foam roll more, take some epson salt baths, get a massage, eat really well, etc). I'm really hoping to be able to hit some speedwork on Friday, but if I'm still feeling cruddy like this, I should probably keep taking it easy - that would mean at least 4 weeks of non-speed work between the Fall Classic Duathlon and my next speed workout! WILD after a summer of lots of weekly speed work!