Step by step, mile by mile

AM - turf. ankle felt a little iffy from running ~40 minutes of loops on a 100-yard field last night(he typed, feigning shock). i did switch directions every 10 minutes, but regardless. if conditions had been dry i would have done 11 without a second thought, but it rained heavy last night and my options were running on very flooded grass, asphalt, or the treadmill, none of which i thought the ankle would take kindly to. the storms hitting later today probably mean my only option for running until tomorrow afternoon are the treadmill anyway, so better to let the ankle breathe if it's reeling. might add a weight session in tonight too to make up for the morning malaise

AM - off. had a brutal last ~18 hours. went to take a nap at 2pm yesterday because it was supposed to snow late that night and i wanted to run in it(it ended up being more of a blizzard than mere winter snow with the 15-mph winds and all so probably would have ran on the treadmill anyway), but woke up from the nap very nauseous once again. threw up a bit and went to bed that night probably dehydrated and woke up at 6am sick once again(with nothing in my system to rid myself of) and the most splitting migraine i've ever expereinced. 6am-noon was nothing but me sitting/lying down in a dark room with a sleeping mask on. it was hell, i couldn't even keep down coconut water or a banana until like 10am. typing this now(1pm), i feel a bit better, although my body aches and i have the fear if i go outside i'll recreate this:

https://c.tenor.com/dlMPygkeZfwAAAAC/my-eyes.gif

but it's whatever. i'll get in some kind of exercise tonight, but man this sucks. my breathing is fine outside a sore chest from all the vomiting, and i'm not congested or anything so i don't think i caught this omnibot virus twitter keeps talking about

PM - managed to work up the strength to go out to buy some cans of soup but got lost on the way back and accidentally spent 40 minutes in the gym trying to get rid of these damn aches. started with static stretches, moving up to dynamic stretches and a couple drills before doing leg extensions and calf raises at like 30% of my max. just stimulating the legs, i'd have tried some stationary work but i don't know if i could have done it for more than a couple minutes, honestly. i had to take a breather trying to put on my shoes before i left the apartment, for god's sake. still, i crawled in there and walked out feeling pretty good so that's a plus. also, campbell's bean and bacon soup after! probably my most nostalgic food, i hear nostalgia doubles as an anti-inflammatory so extra bonus there.

AM - 3 on the treadmill, 8.0 mph. below freezing out!! body didn't feel 100%, but probably as realistically recovered from yesterday as it could have been, so i see that as a positive. legs felt extra bounce on the drills beforehand but also had very little control over them. weird feeling.

PM - 5 on mural, 5:55 pace. passed my litmus test for being "fit enough" by clearing 5 miles in under half an hour comfortably, so any training skimped out on from here is just me being terrified of running in 20-degree mornings. first time's always the hardest, gene of tomorrow!

PM2 - turf routine. chilly! i felt like i was absolutely flying on the strides. need to test the legs out in a workout soon

AM - 3 on hilton, 5:34 pace. i believe this breaks my record for pace on a middle-of-the-night(1am for today) shakeout by 14 seconds(the previous 5:48 pace was for 4 miles, but still), funny thing is i skipped the turf routine i normally do before the asphalt miles to make sure i'm loose for my hated running surface. god forbid it had been any faster.

AM2 - 3 on mural, 6:03 pace. sometimes i get to look good pulling off the AM double, other times i show up dead to run #2. so was the case today, although mural was soggy, cold, and i desperately need new shoes(flys work for short runs but aren't that guy. trust me buddy, they aren't that guy(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FNHSiPFtvA), especially on mushy grass where traction's hard to come by. the shoes i ordered last week are projected to come in today, so i'll let it slide.

AM - 6 on mural at 1am, 6:50 pace. hoped that taking it easier meant less strain on the legs from overcooked shoes, but alas. sure running on mushy grass in the dark didn't help either

AM2 - 6 on mural at 7am, 6:30 pace. got some rain in between runs and my shoes somehow didn't repair themselves into better condition in the just under 6 hours i spent between runs. managed to spend a good portion of it sleeping, at least.

AM - 6 on the treadmill. started at 9.0 working up to 10.0 pretty naturally by the end. finally got some new kicks, can never truly know how worn out your old trainers are until you put on a new pair

PM - 3 on hilton just past noon, 5:42 pace. would have gone for 4, should have gone for 4, deserved to go for 4, didn't go for 4 because it was very windy and very cold; just a tick above freezing. shades of utah out there today

PM2 - upper weights n core

PM - 5 on mural just past noon, 5:52 pace. very windy. first 10 minutes i was reminded my past two weeks of training have been shoddy, although to be fair i caught two seperate stomach viruses to start both weeks(the more recent one was about 50 times worse. if i had even a sniffle i would have been certain i got got by covid), although after that the last 3.5 miles started feeling more comfortable and the pace started dropping to where the last mile was nearly sub-5:30, relatively comfortably. did i mention it was absurdly windy? because it was