Saturday - no session, just an easy run instead

I hate doing this, but I really needed to this morning. It’s my own fault really. This was always going to happen when trying to add in a second speed session each week while trying to maintain the intensity of my weekday runs. And today I paid the price for it, although these days I’m much more contained about it, and don’t let it get to my head as much as it would’ve in the past. Looking back, I was shattered on Thursday afternoon and evening, and I really struggled yesterday, needing a second coffee just to keep functioning. Then this morning I just couldn’t warm-up. I felt sluggish, and the further I went into the warm-up, the less inspired I became to do a threshold effort. So, I decided to simply turnaround and run an easy 15km along the beachfront just to clear my head and to make something out of it. I’m really glad I did this, as I would’ve just been kicking myself for having run a poor threshold effort anyway. Now I’ve got to decide whether I want to commit to proper speedwork, meaning two or three hard sessions per week separated by easier runs in between? Or do I simply revert back to the status quo and run at a solid and controlled pace each morning. To be honest, I actually prefer the latter, without the added stress of all of the strings attached with the speedwork. I’ve proven to myself that I can maintain a more than excellent base of aerobic fitness without any specific speedwork, and I’m not sure how much more I want to sacrifice just to run a minute or two faster over 10km or a half marathon? Sure, these goals may seem everything to us runners at the time, but in the whole scheme of things, it’s not like as if that extra minute or two is going to get me on a national team or anything like that. So simply sticking with the daily runs on feel seems the no-brainer option for me at the moment. Should I decide to race, a few weeks of some shorter and sharper stuff will suffice. Most importantly, I’ve been the happiest I’ve been in years over the past months by doing my daily 15km - which overrides everything else. Nevertheless, I’ll be back out there for my long run tomorrow.