Denouement

Ran my next 10k course, the new balance 10k in two weeks, at a nice leisurely pace (7:52).  Nice to be able to do this, only could because there was no school today so no rush to be home to get the kids off to school.  The course is rolly, not flat, which will make a sub 6:00 pace 10k all the sweeter :D Stretching.  Then off to Ocean Park with the family.  Half amusement park, half sea world.  Mickie, my 9 yo, committed to doing every scary ride, so we did the straight drop, and he loved it, and we did it again about 6 more times that day.  The lines were short, but it was hot and hard to be outside most of the day.

A public holiday so Italia Running Club, the club I joined (for the food admittedly :D ), held a speed session at Aberdeen track.  Afterward there would be swimming and a runners breakfast.  So I convinced the family (even Paul) to come along.  The kids played with a couple of other kids around the track, annoying the track workers (there are always paid employees at these facilities).  The men are fast and were doing 10x800, with 200m walking rest.  I did 8x800 with 400m jogging rest and convinced the ladies to join. Goal was 5k pace--per McMillan's optimistic calculator that was 2:45-2:48 for me.  Roberto, in his injured state, also joined, as did another man (Peter), after having a try at the men's repeats.  I was the fastest lady, but Peter would work me on one side of the workout (he would always jump out fast, did a 36s 200m on the last repeat, I think), then I would pass him, then Roberto would turn it on in the last lap and show his stuff.  It was a festive atmosphere.

5k warm up, then 1 - 2:45 (2:20 rest), 2 - 2:43 (2:34), 3 - 2:44 (2:44), 4 - 2:43 (3:06-rests started getting problematic because the other ladies were finishing slower than me and had a hard time getting to the starting line when I wanted to start, perhaps I should leave them next time?) 5 - 2:43 (2:43), 6 - 2:42 (2:53), 7 - 2:43 (2:58), 8 - 2:40.  So ave pace was 2:43.  Felt hard but good.  Only 3k cool down, but people were leaving so I did too.

PM: Nap! 8.71k (5.44m) in 4:42 ave pace (7:30).  Felt good.  AB workout

AM: 16.7k (10.43m) at 4:30 ave pace (7:12). It was hottish (started at 7:52am).  Weights when got home.  Only did 5 pull ups.  I will see six again and beyond!

AM:  5.15miles in 8:02 ave pace, raining, hilly, nice, core workout

PM: 5.75k warm up in 5:08 ave pace/k.  Then 4x1 mile at 10k pace, with 1 mile rest between at 7:00-7:30, so downshifting but not to recovery pace.  So that was 7 miles of workout with warm up and cool down.  14.66 miles total.  Fast miles were 5:50 (7:13), 5:47 (7:13 for 1550m, includes potty stop if you can believe it--did not stop my watch), 5:44 (7:23, forgot needed to keep at a good clip, so this included maybe 25 seconds of slow jog until I remembered what I was doing, so had to run faster to get overall pace right), 5:41.  Then did a cool down, starting around the track but then went to the walking path.  I was tracking according to overall lap pace and didn't have autolap on, so my whole cooldown was one lap.  Of course the cool down started at 10 min pace or so, when I hit the walking trail it was 9:10 ave, and I started playing a game with the light poles where I saw if I could drop the overall pace by one second per light pole each time.  I had a solid streak from 8:39 down to 8:07, then turned around so lost it there, but then continued the consistent drop until 7:58.  It was a fun little game.  Had an overpass at the end of the cool down so ended up with 7:52 ave pace over the cool down.

Hard thing about night workouts is the run the next morning is supposed to be a "build endurance" not a recovery run.  But I need a recovery run.  So I usually do recovery pace the first half, then easy pace the second half.  That was definitely the case today.  First half was 4:50-5:05 pace, second half was in the 4:40's, 4:52 ave pace (7:47).  Will do weights today.  Waiting for Ikea to come and deliver the last bit of our desk.  Am so excited to have a functional office.

Ran 35.2k at 4:32 ave pace, a bit faster in the second half than the first half because gave myself time to warm up.  Didn't do any fast pushes, just tried to keep the pace decent.  4:32 converts to 7:15 ave pace.  have another run this afternoon, gunning for a 90 mile week, have only been this high I think once or twice before in 2008?

On the more morbid side, have a lump at the top of my left ham right below my glute.  I have been noticing it for about four days, showed it to Paul (I can't see it) to see if it was a varicose vein, but no, its not, he remembers me having him check out that same lump several months ago but it was smaller then.  So great.  Lump that is growing = biopsy?  Can it wait two months?  I would really hate to die from cancer that metasticizes because i didn't want to interrupt my most important training cycle ever!  So I guess I am going to have a forced downweek for the biopsy.

Anyone have experience with a biopsy on a critical running area?  How long from the suture to the first easy run?  How long before can do a hard run?  Products to use to hold the area together so I can run harder faster sooner?