THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

Did 10 miles first in 1:29:25.  I wanted to go faster today, but about the second mile my ankle was grumbling and wouldn't stop unless I slowed down and ran on the right side of the road.  As long as I ran slow it didn't complain.  Took water at mile 5.  Came home, got Jesse, and did one mile very slow in 11:18.  Jesse was struggling with the wind, but he finished so I am proud of him.  Came home after that and dipped both legs from the ankles down in ice water for 5 minutes, took ibuprofen, and then a hot shower.  Ankle feels fine now so as long as I listen to my body I should be okay.  I don't want another injury.  It will probably be all slow, easy miles this week until my race on Saturday.

4.1 very easy on my own, then one mile very easy with Jesse.  10 minute ice bath for feet and ankles afterward, and motrin.  Left ankle is still grumbling so I am taking it easy.  Hopefully it appreciates my efforts and quiets down.  I have a race on Saturday so I would like to be in top condition.  Will take it even easier and possibly a few days off if need be.

5 miles easy today.  Ankle grumbled a little but it is definitely better than yesterday, so I am glad.  Boy was it windy!  The headwind was horrible.  I did not fight it, just ran ever so slowly through it, then when I would round the loop and get the tailwind it was like flying!  It was very cold this morning, 20-something degrees but probably colder with the wind chill factor.  At least it was dry! My quads are a little sore after this run, strange because my quads rarely get sore--usually it is my hamstrings--I am wondering if it is from running into the wind?  10 minute ice bath for my feet and ankles afterward and then off to a hot shower./  I think the ice baths are really helping my ankle and keeping the tendonitis at bay.

My run started out bad.  Legs were stiff, ankle was twinging, and I was contemplating cutting the whole run short and going home, and maybe not even racing on Saturday, and then suddenly at around mile 2, BAM, everything seemed to warm up.  Ankle quieted down, legs loosened up, and I was able to cruise quite comfortably for the rest of the run.   Note to self, if I feel bad Saturday just keep warming up until I feel good!  Stretching, 10 minute ice bath, motrin, and hot shower afterward.  Now I am off to a very long day of work.

Usually I jog a few miles the day before a race but in light of my ankle woes this week I am going to take the day off and hopefully everything is fresh and ready to go tomorrow morning.  Will do lots of ice and gentle stretching, however.  I am walking around the house in running shoes with little gel heel inserts and they are actually very comfortable.

That was ROUGH.  I am absolutely thrilled with my time though!  I am glad I took yesterday off, my ankle was doing great today.  It was thirty or so degrees outsided but no wind today.  I felt my ankle a little bit when I started jogging around to warm up, but it warmed up very quickly and did not bother me during the race.

There were no splits called so I am not sure of my pace the entire race.  I know the first mile I felt like I took off a bit too fast.  By the time we started the second mile both my calves began to really bother me.  They were incredibly tight and aching, and stayed that way the entire race.  There were many times when I felt like I really should be going a little faster, but my tight calves wouldn't let me.  I concentrated hard on leg turnover and trying to relax my shoulders and arms.  I passed the lady ahead of me in the third mile, but coming into the fourth mile some other girl passed me.  I surged, passed her, but she surged and came past me again.  I started running pretty hard but I could not catch her.  At this point I entered the puke zone, and stayed there for the rest of the race.  I felt like I was crawling and not running very fast, but figured since I had to throw up I was running as hard as I really could.  The last mile was very hard.  I felt like throwing up and I was quite miserable.  I finally heard the cheers, came round the bend, and saw 29:14 on the clock and sprinted as hard as I could(which wasn't much faster than I was already going).  I walked off the nausea within 5 minutes of finishing.

This is definitely the worst I have felt during a race, which I believe is because this is the hardest I have pushed myself.  My goal was under 30 minutes so I am very happy with my time!