Today's run went great. Yay! So much better than Monday. Sure, there was the usual it's too dark to be up this damn early, it's too early to be up at all, it's cold out, I'm the only one running the track because it's too dark and too early and too cold. But my calf was doing much much better, only mooing quietly to itself occasionally, and my brain was on board with the whole run in circles in the cold and dark when it's too early to be up, leaving me able to run the whole sixty minutes with the exception of the ten seconds it took me to take off my fleece vest because while cold out it wasn't freezing (50 degrees as opposed to 40 -- felt positively balmy when I first started out).
I think the nightly stretching and icing really helped my calf to shut the hell up. I'm definitely going to keep up with the stretching; hopefully I won't need the icing for a while. I have felt like I'm taking Advil like chiclets, so after I make it through today (feeling fluffy has faded, leaving lots of rooms for feeling CRAMPY) I'm going to back off. Stretching-wise, last night I started to wonder if perhaps my hamstrings didn't have something to do with my calf. My hamstrings are very tight, or so everyone who has reason to mess with them tells me. To me, they don't feel tight in the regular course of things. But I do have chronic low back issues, which I'm told tight hamstrings can either cause or result from.
Didn't go quite as far as I had hoped. I'd hoped to do five miles, simply because a week from today is when my training switches from time to distance and I'm worried about being able to do five miles on a weekday and not be late for work (like I was this morning). Oh well, I got close and I was running at least 30 seconds slower per mile than I should have been. Plus I don't have to do five miles until two weeks from today. So I'll work on my speed (such as it is) and time management between now and then. Or, you know, either be late to work or just quit training. Late to work it is!
Tomorrow's run will be weird. I did 55 minutes on Monday, 60 minutes today, and tomorrow is.... a big whopping 45 minutes. Not that I want to do more tomorrow -- it'll be good for my mental health since Thursday is the only day where I've run just the day before -- but it seems odd. Now Saturday, that is really going to be odd: I'll be doing 115 minutes. For the math challenged, that is five minutes short of TWO FREAKIN' HOURS. What???? I ran over six and half miles last Saturday when I did ninety minutes; I should be able to do at least another mile and a half in 25 more minutes (if I'm still alive, that is). That's what, eight miles? And the long run after that is only six miles? I hope you all attend my funeral this Sunday and note how toned my hips look.
Saturday will definitely be a Gu try-out day. I've never actually used Gu before. Clif Shot Bloks, yes, although only once during a run (last weekend's run). I got a bunch of the Shot Bloks as schwag from a run I did at the zoo (best schwag so far was at that run) but only had them after runs and to fight bad headaches (they work great for that). I've got two packs of Gu at home and they're coming with me on Saturday. Forecast is for 65 and clear on Saturday. I think I'll try the Johnson Creek trailhead again. If I'm running upwards of eight miles, I'm going to need more trail. Here's hoping they have no bridges on them.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
nice job on the morning runs! I have so much trouble getting out of bed to run before work now that it's dark (and chilly).
ReplyDeleteYou have done a LOT of 5Ks this year! That's pretty impressive.
If you can run 90 minutes, you can definitely go 115, I promise. I like the Johnson Creek trailhead- it's so pretty running back towards Sellwood & downtown (not quite as pretty in the other direction until you pass Powell Butte).