TexasLindsey

10 miles at 1 pm at the Trinity River.  Weather=78F, 80% humidity, cloudy.  Average pace=9:13/m.

My kids started daycare today.  We're getting them acclimated to it part-time before they have to start full time when I go back to work.  Today I dropped them off at 9am and picked them up at 3pm.  My 4 year old had a great time and made lots of friends.  My 2 year old refused to eat or participate with the group activities.  It's going to take some time.  

I decided to get a nice run in while I had babysitting.  It was very peaceful out on the trails but the heat and humidity were uncomfortable.  I decided to just go slow.  I noticed that my hips were feeling rather tight around mile 5.  Then I started having some trouble with my left knee on the outside (IT band) at 8.5 miles.  I ran through the pain and it somewhat lessened by the time I finished.  I read that IT band issues can be caused by weak hip muscles... based on my experience today, I'd believe they are related.  Also, I forgot to stretch before I ran.  

8 miles at 2pm at Trinity River.  Weather=82F, 68% humidity, 7mph wind, 65 dew point, cloudy for first half of run and sunny second half.  Average pace=9:11/m.

I ate a big lunch and then went to run immediately after.  As a result, I felt very sluggish.  I decided to just go slow and not worry about it.  We'll just call this week of slow running a week of working on my slow twitch muscle fibers.  

It was really hot especially when the sun came out.  I had to stop at water fountains and splash water on my face.   It wasn't so bad.   I like sweating... It makes me feel so refreshed afterwards, like toxins are leaving my body.   

I stretched really well today and I didn't have any IT band issues.  Legs felt great!  So nice to run without pain.   

8 miles at the river again.  9am.  Weather=65F, 88% humidity, 15mph wind, cloudy.  Average pace=9:09/m.

Just going slow, building my base back up.  I have found that if I go any faster than 9 pace then I start having aches and pains.  So today was perfect.  Cardio-wise I'm still pretty good.  I could have run 15 miles today as far as that was concerned.  It's my legs and feet that are out of shape.  I took so much time off I figure I just need to start over and slowly build my milage before I start working on speed.  After a few weeks of this, then I'm going to start doing some faster miles in my runs and maybe some short tempo runs.