I think I'll start splitting up my entries with the stats at the top and
the commentary below. That will make my life a little easier when I go
back to review my stats. Ran a fast-ish 5k on the track in 22:58 (7:24 AP) - splits: 7:44, 7:19, 7:12, 6:57 (last .1mi pace)
Then ran an easy 2mi (8:41 AP) on the track to cool off. Commentary: What a difference a few days makes. I don't get it. Had to get up early today to take a friend to the hospital for a procedure. My wife volunteered to do it but based on how early it was, I knew she was volunteering ME. No biggie, dropped them off and came back to work from home since my son had his tour of his newly renovated school today. I should have gone for my run after dropping them off since I knew I had my podiatrist appointment today and the likelihood of running before the 4pm appointment was slim and after never feels good. Work was good, tour was nice (aka let us show you what all your taxes go to), and as predicted, no run before the appt. Got two cortizone shots in each foot and they hurt like a motha! I think she was in a hurry because she didn't freeze the injection spot as much as she should have. She also adjusted my orthotics since they were allowing me to put more pressure on my big toes than I should be, hence the wear right under the big toe joint. Plus, the extra padding should help that nerve pain. I wanted to get my orthotics checked out before now, but I'm too cheap to pay the $30 copay to go in and get checked out. If I get injected I don't have to pay it and I knew I'd have to go back in anyways. My wife doesn't get it, but in my mind, $30 is my entrance fee to the IKEA half. I'd rather pay for a half marathon than a visit to the podiatrist if I can get that office visit free. So, as I was leaving, the doc reminded me not to run until Friday or Saturday. I asked why that was and she said that the cortizone needs to work, but mainly to keep the bruising down. I decided to give it 3 hours. I don't care much about some bruising. That will go away. I had to get my 5 runs in this week and after tomorrow's run, I don't know that I'll want to run on Thursday. But then again, maybe I will. So, in order to try and minimize any pain associated with the shots and to try out the orthotic mods, I decided to head to the track. I was thinking about just jogging a couple miles and if I was feeling good, I'd do maybe 3-4. No need to over do it before tomorrow, right? Well, I began my warm up jog and was keeping it below 8:00 pace and feeling really good. Feet felt great, weather was nice and cool (73F), and I was in the zone. So after about 3/4mi of running 7:45-7:50 I decided I should try and see if I can come in under 24:00 in prep for the Steeler 5k, if I decide to do it. The Steeler is basically flat as a track, so I knew if I could do it on the track I could do it in a race with 2,500 people and high adrenaline. Even with the slower 3/4 mi start, I finished under 23:00! I was pretty stoked! I was negative splitting the entire 5k except for a 1/2 mi at about the 2mi mark where I went from a 7:12 to a 7:17 pace. I was chatting with my buddy at work and I think I'll use the Steeler 5k as a quality workout before the half. I'll add in a couple of miles that day to keep the mileage, but that will be my speed workout for the week. So, I'm pretty sure I'll do it. I just don't want to hurt myself trying to get a huge PR and then not be able to PR at the half. I gotta say, it's nice to be slow because the PRs come a lot faster and easier. :-) Family convinced me to pick up pizza on the way home from the track. It was going to be a 25-30 min wait and I seriously considered putting in some more slow miles while waiting for the pizza. I was feeling good, but I knew I had already done 5+ and another 3 would have been awesome, but I want to do well in tomorrow's hard workout. So, I read the news instead. It's been a few hours now and my feet (mostly the injection sites) are a little sore. The orthotic adjustments seem to work well, so that's good. I'll know for sure over the next week or so. Yesterday was OK, but today was very good. I'll be on track for a great couple of races if I can keep this up. :-D PS: If you've made it this far, you get a special bonus. I was browsing through the Rite-Aid ad and they had their supplements buy one get one free and I saw one that caught my eye. I don't know if it would do anything for running, but I'll pass it along anyways: Horny Goat Weed. Check it out. I'm going to go in there and ask if they have it tomorrow. Do I ask if they have Horny Goat. No, Goat Weed? No, I guess there's no easy way to ask for it except by it's full name. I just hope they don't have to ask over the intercom. lol
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