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September 03, 2004
An Awesome Workout and A Doctor's Appointment
Last night I had one of the best hill workouts that I have ever done. During the warm-up I felt on the sluggish side and thought that I might still be paying for the great run that I had on Tuesday. The group did the usual 2.75 mile warm-up and then we tackled the hills for the fifth of seven weeks. Since last night was most likely the last of my hill workouts based on the races that I plan on running in the next few weeks, I planned on doing five hills again this week. When I was getting started, I thought about cutting down to four since I didn't feel really sharp during the jog before. Once I got started, I felt OK going up. One of the guys commented that I seem to fly down the hills (he runs the downs REALLY slow, but I seem to thud too much when I run the downs so slowly, so I just try to keep my foot steps quiet). So after three hills, I was feeling pretty good and actually had not really zoned out on any of the repeats and made the executive decision to do five again. Going up to the top on number five was hard, it didn't get any easier, but I was really proud of myself for not cutting down and for not zoning out on any of the repeats. I finished the five miles of hill repeats in 33:25 which was a huge surprise. I'm thrilled to average just under 7 minute pace on these hills. People keep telling me that I am in better shape than I think I am and some of the runs I have had this past week make me believe that I may be in somewhat decent shape right now.
We started out on the 2.75 mile warm-down (which happens to include two more nasty hills) and a couple of the guys commented that they were going to go over to the bar. I decided that I had a rough week at work, had a great workout, and had the day off from work--I joined the guys for a few drinks. We also ate one of the least nutritious dinners ever-the best soft pretzel sticks I have ever had (I go to this bar just to get the pretzels) and hard pretzels. They have this spicy apple butter that you can put on the pretzels that is just so good too! All of the guys know how little I like to eat, but comment on how I'll scarf down these pretzels.
Today is my day off from running. I might ride my bike for a little bit today or get in the pool some to get all of the gunk out of my legs from last night since I plan to do 16 tomorrow. I don't care how slow I run, I just want to get some miles in. I also went to the doctor today to try to figure out the twinges in my lower leg. She runs and has done at least one marathon and understands just how crazy I am. She thinks that it is probably just a shin splint and that I just need to keep doing what I have been doing to take care of it. She called me a sadist since I take ice baths, but hey they work! After I explained my insurance situation to her and that my parents would pay for whatever therapy or tests that I need, she said to wait a few weeks and see if I start getting pain. I told her that it does not hurt when I run and that I get little twinges every now and then, but not anything really painful. She also knows that I will go bonkers without running.
It looks like I should have some decent weather for my long run tomorrow. I'm planning on doing a half-marathon in a few weeks and have not had a long run in a few months. I hope that I have residual fitness from my spring training. In the spring I hoped to run a PR for the half, but the race did not pan out the way I hoped that it would. The conditions were less than ideal and I was running alone the entire way. I was happy enough with how I ran. If the weather is nice for this one, I would like to get close to my PR, but going into it I'm thinking just a good effort will make me happy.
Posted by Blondie at September 3, 2004 11:49 AM
Comments
Congratulations on the great workout. I'm still amazed that you ran 6:30 pace on a training run this past week and it felt "effortless!"
I think aiming for a good effort in the half marathon is a good approach. After Jen Toomey won indoor titles in the 800 and 1,500 this past winter, she talked about how the goal was just to make it hurt. If you run hard, no matter what your time ends up being you can't really be disappointed in yourself.
Good luck, it sounds like you're in great shape!
Posted by: Alison at September 3, 2004 12:30 PM