red pill

Well I had written a few blogs, but I guess there wasn't a lot of motivation this week to actually post it. Lets see what all happened this week. Wednesday was a bad day at school, nothing seemed to go right. Practice was good, the guys started their first workout. I skipped so I could keep times and watch. I ran a mile warmup, but didn't get anything more than that. Thursday and Friday were off due to sickness in knox county. Yes we have some sort of plague. Thursday was a day off where I did nothing. We had found out at Wednesday's practice that there would be no school and so we gave the kids a rest day. That made good sense because of the first workout. They needed the recovery I'm sure. Friday it rained all morning. I stayed in and read books. I got some nice one's from the library about running. I hope I can find more. I read "Pre" in one day, and I'm working on running with the Buffaloes now. It's a bit longer so I'm taking my time.

I also watched movies, lots of movies. There really is nothing to do around the house. I cleaned all day Thursday as well, so I finally feel good about things again, and that is part of the reason I have my motivation back. The other part is obviously the books I've been reading. I also found that my form work has not been in vain. I've researched enough now to see where my main flaws are and found some nice drills that are better than what I was doing. Most of it actually has to do with my head starting to slump because I'm looking down, whereas I assumed it would be something wrong with pushoff/landing.

Friday I went to the school anyway. The guys had an informal run around 3. I crapped around and got there just as they were heading out. I talked to one of the injured guys, Adam, who is taking a needed break, then I said adios and caught up with them. The guys went into a park I'm not too fond of, due to a lot of switchbacks. I had other plans, so I went with the 2 girls that actually showed up. I think some more came, but did their workout already or something like that. Running with the girls was not fun. They talked about guys and things that I remember from a million zillion years ago. Haha, I guess high schoolers never change. Anyway I stuck with them for a mile, then went off in search of giant hills, they said "good luck, we won't be going that way". I found the one I did during my long run and did that 3 times. It's a long slow hill, with a few more dips directly after it. So it was kind of a multi-hill workout. Like short hill, short recovery, long hill, long recovery, short hill, etc. I definitely was breathing hard at the top.

That was good, but it left me out in nowhereville. I ended up getting somewhat lost. I knew I was going in the right direction, but it was at a slight angle, so it just took longer than I had anticipated. It also gave me the opportunity to go up some more steep hills, which made for a well rounded hill workout day. The funny thing about today was bringing my ipod and wearing my nike frees...and I forget the sensor :) Yet another run lost. Not really. It was nice to be "unplugged", and I felt a lot like I was in a Matrix situation. Fortunately I was smart enough to bring my watch. At an hour I was on my way back. I'm not sure how far I went, but I was moving pretty good. So I'd say somewhere between 9-10 miles.

Today I was motivated. All the reading about training programs and fast times will do that I guess. So I got up early. REAL early, yep, 9 a.m. early. That's really sad considering I went to sleep at 9:30 hehe. No breakfast, just got dressed and headed out. It has been cloudy the last 50 days, and that held true again. Not a great day, but the run was fun. I felt at times like I was pushing it, but other times felt relaxed. I think a lot of it is because of not using my ipod headphones. NO music, totally unplugged again. I definitely get a better sense of my footfall cadence, but breathing wise it's kind of bad. Because I'm listening to my breathing, I tend to control it, whereas with music it just sort of happened naturally without thinking about it. Still, my pace these past few days have been much faster than what I was running previously, and rightly so, I have only a month left of training.

I figured I might as well not wear headphones anymore. I wont be using them in the half, so I need to get used to that. So if I'm awesome I won't use them until after the race. It is refreshing to be free of them I will say, and I don't even notice the ipod at my hip. I wore my "big" shoes tonight. I just though that with my toe joint hurting so much lately it could use a break. The cushion was nice, but it still hurt. I just call it my broke toe now. I know that it won't heal running on it, but it doesn't hurt bad enough to make me quit. I'll either get stronger or wind up having to not run, but I'll take my chances. The right side just above the hip is also sore lately. It won't go away either. I'm beginning to think that it was from basketball, but I'm not sure. It doesn't hurt during runs so that is fine. The tight tendons haven't bothered me today. I think getting these miles in has helped whip them back to form. I can bend the knee all the way today and there is little if any tightness at all. Yesterday I could feel it, so that is a good sign.

I ordered some new running stuff, can't wait to try it out. I did buy an $80 jacket,(without sale price) that is sweet and is working great for this wet weather, as well as another pair of running shorts I already had, but a different color. Next I've got some new shoes, socks, and toe protectors ordered. My left toenail fell off, well it's still hanging on, but I can lift it like a car hood. Kind of funny the first time I did that. I'm leaving it there until it goes naturally, but it's only hanging on by the cuticle for now. A new toenail awaits underneath, but the vessels re-burst so it is black and I can't tell whats going on. To think I thought that toe was getting better, it was all nice and normal last week. The other two on the right side seem to be going through the same process, but it will be a while I before they get there I think. A website said it could take about 3 months for new nails to grow. Sorry, no war pictures anymore.

the rundown
Saturday PM- 8(8.74)miles. 44 degrees. Zoom 95 (7:00 was slowest mile)
Saturday AM- 8(8.75)miles. 38 degrees, slight wind. GM 266
Friday. 9 miles. 36 degrees, wet with light sprinkles. BF 108
Thursday- rest