Yesterday I had a 30 minute tempo run on the plan. I took Tuesday off because I was tired, and figured I’d come roaring back on Wednesday. No.

I’ve never experienced dead legs before, but I did from the get-go. I thought my sluggishness would work itself out, but it really did feel like I was running without feeling my legs. I had planned on running a mile warm-up, running 1.25 miles at tempo, turning around and continuing at tempo for another 1.25 miles back, and then cooling down the remaining distance, which would be slightly less than a mile as I was planning to run my tempo at incrementally faster paces.

Even though my legs were dead, I managed my first tempo mile at 12:37, my second at 12:00 (via my watch, Strava says 11:50, weird), and then who knows for that last quarter mile or so at tempo, maybe 11:15. It wasn’t hard to run fast, but I felt like I was running with someone else’s legs and like I was looking through someone else’s eyes, almost. Or maybe like I was sleep-running. I ended up walking my cooldown because I felt so strange, and of course I was scaring myself into thinking something else was wrong and drove home petrified I’d throw up all over myself (even though I wasn’t nauseated) and get into an accident.

I ate some Nerds when I got home so maybe I was just bonking, but that would be humiliating. Who bonks on a run of less than an hour? I don’t usually eat before runs during the week, as I eat plenty for lunch. I suppose maybe my lunch was less calorie-rich than normal, but I doubt it. I really don’t know.

I felt sort of tired and weird this morning, too, even after I went to bed a bit earlier than normal last night, and it took me awhile to shake that funny feeling. Again, it felt like I was sleep walking. So I shut myself down from running today (it’s raining anyway) and will just do a little yoga, and I don’t plan on running again until I can shake this funny feeling. It’s annoying, but something’s clearly off with me, so I am not going to push until I’m sick or injured and sidelined for weeks or months.