Since it takes me so long to organize and write a post, and I make them too long anyway, (No. No. I own this writing faux-pas.) I’m going to cover this week mostly in pictures.
Thursday
My first run since breaking my streak the previous Thursday in week 3. It was my long run for the week, 8 miles. Ran in the minimalist shoes, too. No real issues on the road. I did finally feel a couple of small rocks through the sole, but no bruising force penetrated.
As noted, I opted to stay on road. I wasn’t sure how I would hold up. After all, I hadn’t ran more than 5 miles in over three weeks. I didn’t want to get too far out, in case I crashed. I chose the hardest course I had in my immediate vicinity. A 1-mile stretch of Freestone County Road 720 with two hills on it. The small hills gave me some elevation gain, if only minuscule. One mile out, one mile back–never farther than one mile from my car.
Covering the same mile eight times. Ugh. How boring and how much harder that would make it. Then I recalled the words of an Olympian coach quoted in the “Advanced Tactics” section of Atomic Habits: The difference between “the best athletes and everyone else” (a question posed by the author) “comes down to who can handle the boredom of training.”
My body held up really well. The lighter shoes on my feet certainly helped. I stiffened up a bit in those last 2 miles, but didn’t get the low back ache. Also felt pretty fatigued. Despite that, I still managed to keep my pace at a respectable 17:07/mi. I actually did more running intervals, albeit slower, in those last miles. When my legs stiffen up, it’s easier to do a slow jog than to continue walking.
I took time at the back of my car for some quick stretching. Headed home, I detoured to Sonic and treated myself with some electrolytes in the form of a Rt. 44 PowerAde Berry Blast Slush. Once home, I went through my lower body stretching routine twice and rubbed magnesium lotion over my legs–front, back, sides, up, and down. Then I sat down with my feet up and watched TV for about 30 min, before deciding I’d hit the shower.
As soon as I stood up I began to shake. Just like I had on that long run way back in October. Felt like it was going to shake the teeth out of my head. Hot, hot, shower eventually stopped it. Again, not sure the exact cause, but I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. To try to narrow it down, I am going to start checking my blood glucose before and after my long runs.
Friday
Hal actually had my Thursday long run at 11 miles. I knew better than to bite that off. 8 miles was enough to push me, so I had 3 miles to make up on Friday.
I definitely had some tired legs, but managed with a respectable pace for week 4 in this training cycle.
Saturday
Basically a repeat of Friday, except it was later and a cooler day. Legs felt normal by then and I clocked another average pace PR beating the previous one by 00:24/mi. Given that I’m still being very conservative with my progression and I’m only running one minute out of every four, I’m looking forward to big gains by the time I get to my 20 mile training runs.
