AM So, this morning didn't go very well. I woke up at 3, and got ready for my race. I got on the spinning bike to get the blood pumping through my legs so I could warm up my achilles. Then, it was off to the race. As I started warming up, my legs felt really good, and my achilles didn't seem to hurt . . . until I turned and jogged down Wakara. As soon as I hit the downhill, I could feel my achilles with every impact. This started some doubts running through my mind. I finished my strides, and went to the starting line. I got out well in the race, but I could feel the pounding with every step. My soleus started to twinge from time to time, and I got really nervous. I decided to drop right after the mile, because I didn't want to hurt my tendon any further. I jogged easy down to Liberty Park to watch Teren finish.
I keep vascillating between feeling like I made a smart decision, and feeling like I wimped out. I have some really big races in September and October, and finishing the race would have been a big risk . . .yes, it could have been a risk that paid off and I might have been just fine. But, there is that big what if . . . what if I had finished and really injured myself? So, I will be running a workout later this afternoon . . . after a good nap!
PM I didn't get that nap! Still, I managed to get a tempo run in this evening. I wanted six, but I was struggling at 5. This is one of the first times that I have done a workout after a morning run. Plus, I did run a 5:15 mile this morning! I warmed up 2 miles, and then ran 5 miles, increasing my pace every 5 minutes. I felt pretty good until I started getting under 5:45 pace. Then it got difficult.
Mile 1: 6:06
Mile 2: 5:55
Mile 3: 5:49
Mile 4: 5:43
Mile 5: 5:40 Total time : 29:17
The achilles feels fine on the treadmill. It's easy to adjust my foot plant to avoid aggravating it. I can tell tempos are missing from my workouts. 5k road races are fun, but they are not the same for extended threshold running. I cooled down two more miles. | 