When Easy isn't Easy.

When it comes to running, why are easy weeks so hard?

I think it's the name actually. I think if easy weeks were called 'tough short weeks', they'd be easier.

Last week was an easy week for me. That means 30 minute runs during the week and a 10k run on Saturday.

After running 7-9k runs the week before with a 16k long run on Saturday, the easy week was looking pretty darn attractive.

It never fails - I'm fooled every time into thinking that 10k run is going to fly by and I'll be home and feeling fabulous in no time.

Instead of a quick, easy, 10k, I ended up having to cut the run short, only did 9k and it still took me about 75 minutes.

Why??

Because of a whole pile of reasons:

 a) I didn't bring any water with me. Why?? Because I was only doing 10k. Turns out that, while it was only 21 degrees, it was almost 100% humidity so I was dripping wet in minutes and feeling dehydrated by 4k.

b) my ears plugged up. They haven't done that in weeks and weeks. Even on the longer runs. And yet, at 7k I had to stop running because I couldn't hear anything and my breath was coming in gasps. So I walked and ran and walked and ran, no longer caring about pace or time, just wanting to get home to a big cold glass of water.

c) because, despite 2 dates and a handful of raisins, my blood sugar refused to climb above 5.0 which meant I was stalking Rose like a hawk to make sure I didn't start dropping and which meant I had to eat a package of fruit chews at 8k because I wouldn't have made it home otherwise.

I got home and was of two minds about the whole thing. First, I was glad that I tanked on a 10k run that didn't really count as much as, say, an 18k mileage builder does. But I was also annoyed that, once again, I was lulled into thinking that easy means easy. It doesn't. I just means a different kind of hard.