« Change of Plans | Main | Refreshing Run »
September 15, 2004
Miracle Cure
I am convinced that my ice bath yesterday was my miracle cure. My legs did not feel great at all on Tuesday. After the ice bath my legs felt much fresher today. I also like Alison's theory that you can only have one injury at a time. That must be the explanation for the aches that have been wandering all over my body.
Today's run went much better than yesterday's. Of course it did help that I went on one of my regular routes rather than trying to take up some time to get over to the track. I was exhausted when I got home from work so I took a short nap. When I got out of bed, I put on my running clothes and looked outside. It was gray outside, but it had been all day and had not really been raining so I opted to leave my hat at home. When it's warm out, I don't care for wearing a hat since it traps all of the heat on my head and I just feel sweatier. I got outside and it was sort of misty which I can handle, but about three minutes into my run it started to rain. A light, steady rain. It really was not too bad, but I would have been happier with a hat covering my face so that I could see.
My legs felt so much better than they did yesterday. The temperature was cooler and the rain seemed to be bringing the humidity down. I covered my 7 mile course in a few ticks over 47 minutes, which is a normal time for this course. I know that I should not be obsessed with weight, but since I have gained a few pounds the effort feels so much greater to run the same pace. My lunch was sitting at the bottom of my stomach from about the two mile point on. This feeling hits me at least once a week which makes for some unpleasant feelings while I'm running. I still have not figured this out. I try to wait at least four hours between eating and running which should be plenty of time. I realize that my digestive system probably works slowly since I even have trouble when I run first thing in the morning and have not eaten anything other than dinner the night before. Back to my workout, I went to the gym and rode the stationary bike for 45 minutes and spent about 15 minutes stretching. I was going to go to the other branch of the gym for the 5:00 Spinning class because I enjoy the change, but I didn't get home from my run until about five minutes until five and due to the situation stated above, I was not able to get myself ready to leave right away.
I am hoping that we have nice weather out here on Sunday for my half-marathon. I am really hardly nervous about this race at all. Quite different from the way I was at this time last week. I guess that there are many reasons for this. First of all, I have had a race number on now. Second, I think that I am in better shape to run a longer race than to run a shorter race. I have done very little running at much under 6 minute pace this year since most of my training was geared towards the half marathon during the spring. Third, there is no chance that I can really do anything in this race. Even if I PR by several minutes I won't even crack the top ten. The Philadelphia Distance Run is one of the best races I have ever run and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to run a world class half marathon. The weather is usually nice and the course is fast. There is also always an awesom field. It's nice to not have any pressure to do well in a race. I can just go in and stay with some of the men.
I've been trying to use my Swiss ball as the chair at the computer for the past few days. I would take it to work, but I think that everyone would look at me like I'm crazier than they already think I am. This ball is a little bit too small to be a chair, but for the time being it will work. Yesterday I did notice a difference when I tried to do my core exercises. My stomach muscles were more tired than usual. I haven't done my core routine yet tonight.
Since tomorrow is another light day of running, I am going to run directly after work and drag myself over to the running store to buy new shoes. I did not feel like going out in the rain again today after my run. I'll probably do the river run tomorrow which is around 6 miles and then do some striders. The store is about a mile up the road from that course and I'll just bring some clean socks. The guys who work there have had to deal with some really nasty guys who come in right after they run with no clean socks-yuck!
Posted by Blondie at September 15, 2004 08:48 PM