Week 8
I was solo this past week while wifey-poo was busy in Atlanta being a SunTrust employee extraordinaire. My intentions to continue the proscribed training regimen were all good but they didn't come to pass. It seem to pay off with the extra rest as my 5 mile run this past Saturday was better than the previous one by seven minutes. Looks like at 45, I need more time to recoup from these long runs since before I was ending up hurting myself without allowing enough time between workouts. Weight lifting might be one thing, since you work out different sets of muscles, but running is running no matter how you slice it. My legs and especially calf just weren't recuperating fast enough following the regular running schedule. Some might think this lazy, I think of it as strategically ensuring I won't be or get hobbled come time for the real race.
Even though I was alone, I woke up Saturday at the normal 6:30 am alarm, had my coffee and made a batch of Xtend to get cold so I could down it upon returning home. The weather was a bit nippy but nothing I wouldn't soon forget since I sweat like a pig anyway. I learned from last week not to wear two pairs of long sleeved shirts (shirt and warm up jacket) since I got WAY hot. This time I just had my VCU football shirt and warm-up over it and a pair of shorts. All were properly soaked through by the time I finished. Our original inspiration for even doing this run, Meagan, decided to run with me even though she's in the advanced runner group that was supposed to do seven mile. She started to run with her group but didn't feel well so she decided to come along for our run once she felt better. I blame the pizza we had for dinner the night before!
Our route had us going out the familiar way on Monument Avenue but then we crossed through the upper Fan over to Floyd Avenue to head back to the Jefferson. My only concern other than the bumpy sidewalk was I started getting a blister on the arch of my left foot about 4 miles in. I fought through this annoyance but I did need to make a couple of repairs to my foot upon further review. Good news was I finished in about 53 minutes which I attributed to not stopping at all this time, except for one water break the trainers had but out at the 2 mile mark. I also have to love that my stamina remained intact despite not running during the week and, in fact, improved. I didn't have any outrageous soreness in my calf, just the normal aching from pounding my legs into concrete for the better part of an hour.
So now comes the true test: I've got a guys trip to Las Vegas this Wednesday through Monday. I'm gonna miss the 6 mile run here but need to duplicate it somewhere out there. Nothing like a little morning jog into the desert to see how much booze I can sweat off, eh? Meanwhile, I think with Daylight Savings Time finally here, I've got more time to do a run after work thereby keeping my stamina going before I fly off early Wednesday morning. At least VCU made the tournament, so I can proudly display my colors out west. If they lose, I can always use it as a sweat rag!
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