my makeup may be flaking

30 laps at the fieldhouse averaging about 6:10 pace. It was hot up there and I didn't feel good at all. I'll probably start running more sensibly as I get back into daily running. My achilles wasn't perfect but if it was better than the start of my run yesterday.

Got up at 4:30AM to run with Allie because I wanted a ride to school :). My achilles did not hurt but I ran pretty slowly. After three straight days of running it was creaking quite a lot.

In the evening I did some leg weights and then did 5.9 miles on the elliptical. This was slightly under 6 mins per mile (5:58 to be precise).

Elliptical

10miles

Hard.

The ellipticals at the fieldhouse only allow you to go for 45 minutes at a time so I decided that I would go 30mins, take a swig of gatorade and then restart the machine to finish 10 miles.

The goal was 58mins (5:48 pace). I did the first mile in 5:40 but then decided to raise the resistance by one notch (from 7 to 8). My second mile was a 5:23 (uh oh). The nice thing about the elliptical is that it's just you versus the machine. On the other hand, it's the elliptical...so that kind of bites. Anyway. I kept clicking off 5:30ish miles and after the first half hour I had done 5.46 miles (5:29.7 pace). To this point my stride rate had only dropped below 240 a couple of times, but my legs were starting to tire.

Starting up the machine again sucked. I made it through a 5:37 mile to start out my second segment, but then I started to hit the wall. Fortunately my pace didn't dip too much as I was still able to keep my stride rate in the 230s. The last few miles sucked but I still kept up a reasonable pace and finished with a 55:33 for the whole 10miles.

Altitude adjusted that's a 54 low which is about right based on the effort. Obviously different machines are calibrated differently (which is why I always use the same type of elliptical at the gym), but it does seem like I can just about match what I'd be able to do running on the elliptical. The difference is that my quads get really tired when I do this. I think this is a good thing as I think I have relatively weak quads...anyway.

AM 10 with Allie

PM 3 on elliptical. (in 17:47)

I think my ratio of running to non running might be a little off here.

In the afternoon I felt quite a bit of creaking (crepitus?) in my achilles.

I had resolved to take a few days off to let me achilles recover a little better but after today's run there is less creaking. I'll have to see how it progresses throughout the day. I took some ibuprofen before going to sleep which may have helped.

AM 9 with allie.

Lifted some weights an d then put some work in on the elliptical: (6:14,6:02,5:47,5:33,5:31) Afterwards, did some running on the track. There is no trace of tendinitis but I don't trust it. I think I will run the 5k tomorrow and see what happens.

I clashed horribly in the gym today, it was great.

My only real goal for this race was to test my achilles. I hoped to also break 17, but meh.

I have done basically no fast running over the past 3 week so I was pretty sure anything under 6 min pace would feel terrible. To begin with I felt like I had the speed in my legs to run with Fritz and Jake but I figured they were going low 15 pace and that I should just ignore them. The race was on for 3rd between me and my old nemesis, Jon Gauthier.

I felt pretty terrible for the 1st mile but I just wanted to see how fast I was going before slowing down. I hit the 1st mile in 5:11 before a wave of fatigue washed over me and I drifted into the 5:40 range. I didn't have the typical turnover that I have in 5ks and that basically doomed me. Also I just felt generally off and oft of sync. I was happy that I managed to hold my pace after my initial slow down not get passed. I dropped Jon at the mile and then was a bit ahead of the pack the rest of the way.

I "only" lost to Jake by 1:40 which means that the race was not awful for me. I probably should have been able to run 16:20-16:30 today. The most important thing is that my achilles held up.

When I got home I noticed that it was a bit sore so I iced it. Now as I write this it is very slightly tender. This is good news as it is clearly better than it was a few days ago despite the 5k. I think this may be due in large part to my ibuprofen consumption.