back to it, feeling challenged

For this morning's run, I started working on my speed.  I told my run app that I wanted to do 15 minute miles.  I've done only a few of those, ever.  I had no expectation of actually achieving it this morning.  But you gotta start somewhere, right? 

It was not a fun run.  My right ankle bothered me enough for the first mile that I kept considering turning around to go back home (but then it got better).  My butt muscles were very sore all the way through.  Somewhere late in the second mile and early in the third mile, my lower back was throbbing.  For the whole run, my body felt like it weighed 9,000 pounds - I kept expecting it to lighten up as I loosened up, but it never did.  I was more out of breath than usual.

All of this surprised me.  After all,I rested yesterday.  It was a beautiful, stunningly perfect 50 degrees with low humidity out there.  And I only ran for a little under an hour.  This should be fairly easy! 

Of course I have only theories about why it would be so.  Here is the best I can come up with:

• I did just run the longest run of my life on Saturday.  And the pain from it was enough that Aleve wouldn't touch it until sometime yesterday.  And I was still sore at bedtime last night.  So maybe it was just still fatigue from the race.  Maybe I should have taken another day off. 
• My compression pants were still on the drying rack, still damp from the laundry.  So I just ran in regular running pants.  I think my compression pants help my back with the work of carrying this gut that I need to lose.  That's probably what the back pain was about.  It was kind of a jiggle fest out there. 
• Mondays are just always hard.  My body likes routine A LOT and I always go off routine on the weekend.  And I always pay on Monday.  So maybe it was just a Monday thing.  

So, my faster time wasn't really faster, even though I was intentionally pushing myself pretty hard, the whole run.  

I think, before I decide to be discouraged by this, that I will wait and see how I'm doing by Friday.  Maybe I will regain momentum and things will be looking up.

Pressing on...