Running Chick

Aside from the last 1.5 miles of my run today, everything went well.

The temperature was perfect, the sun was shining and again I was out early enough that I didn't encounter much traffic. I ran into the wind for the first one or so miles, which was really chilly, but once I hit Manninen Road the wind shifted behind me and I warmed up. My doggie friends from Denton Road came out to see me again but they weren't as enthralled with me as they were last week. The St. Bernard came over for a pat on the head, then he took off. Sheesh.

The last 1.5 miles were hard. My legs were burning, my breathing was all screwed up and I felt like I kept on getting slower and slower. I passed the 7-mile mark and thought about just giving up, but struggled for another half-mile then decided to turn around and end at the BP gas station again. As soon as I turned around, I figured out why I was struggling. I was running up a giant uphill stretch that kept on getting gradually steeper the longer I ran. I couldn't see this when I was running at all. When I run hills, I usually shorten my stride and drop my speed to conserve energy. Since I couldn't see the hill, I just kept on trying to keep my pace and stride up and I was slowly dying the longer I ran uphill. As soon as I turned around, everything fell back into place and I was able to finish strong in the last half-mile. That will teach me to pay more attention to what I'm doing rather than just zoning out.

This week's totals:
17 miles @ 3:09:33
Average pace 11:08 (5.4 mph)

I had a pretty speedy run tonight on my new shoes. I wasn't going to wear them until the roads dried up, but I decided that they were going to get dirty eventually, so it might as well be sooner than later. I like them. They're a bit different than my old ones. They have a wider toe-box and the heel seems to fit a bit more snug. The heel is also a lot firmer, and I thought that was going to be an issue, but it makes the shoe surprisingly responsive. I swear I could feel some sort of springing action on my toe-offs. That was really bizarre, but I ran 4.5 miles at a 10:51 pace (my fastest ever!) so maybe it is the shoes.

Anyway, done until Saturday. I hope the weather is as nice as it was last week.

I had a decent run last night. I'm only grading it as "decent" because it started out like crap, then ended well so I figure that averages out to be "decent". My first two miles were uphill and into the wind. That sucked. Then, my right calf tightened up so much that my right leg felt like it had a board strapped to the back of it. There was very little flex in the ankle, which meant that my push offs were slow and weak and my landings were flat instead of flexed. I finally decided to stop and stretch at the 2-mile mark. My calf felt so much better after that and my running got lots better too. I ended up with a split in the 9-10 minute/mile range, which is pretty much unheard of for me. Still, I'm a bit apprehensive about this calf issue. This morning it was pretty tight and weak feeling, even after 5 minutes on the slant board. I'm not sure what's going on with that. I brought my ice packs in with me today and I'll see how it responds to some ice treatments.

Aside from the wind, the temperature was a balmy 43 degrees and I was able to head out with only two light layers instead of the usual three heavy layers. This morning I woke up to see around 3" of heavy, wet snow on the ground, which means that the roads will be wet and yukky for the rest of the week. Joy.