A disappointing 5K

Compare:

The only bad training session is the one you skip.

And:

If your session is so bad that it makes you wonder whether it has a positive effect at all, maybe it doesn't.

Three late nights in a row meant dragging myself out of bed this morning on pure determination. Or rather obligation, since I had to go to work. We stayed up until 12 last night to watch the Metallica concert on TV, which left me with just 6 hours of sleep.

So when I ran home from work, I was so tired that not even my VFF could make this terrible run good. I was about as gracious in my step as a raging bull, as light as an elephant. A large, overweight elephant. I landed heavily, aggressively, as if I hated the ground and wanted to extinguish its life by stomping on it.

It was warm. I was exhausted. Too little sleep. Too many kilometres yesterday.

The only good thing about this session was how easily I ran up the last hill, the one that I usually avoid because it's steep and at the end of my run.

So, did this training session have a positive effect? Did I become a stronger person and a better runner because of it? Or was it just filler, a way to meet my monthly quota? Is a meaningless, boring, slow and tiresome session better than none? Is quantity better than quality - ever?