First Workout in Months

It was another solid 7 days of running. On Saturday I ran my first workout since mid-summer. The team was running 8 x 1000m on the grass and I was excited to get my feet dirty. I opted before the workout to run only 5 repeats and run by feel. Instead of looking at my watch, I’d base my pace on the competition around me and my own personal comfort. We leaned forward into the incline and almost immediately cold air filled my rusty lungs. This pace seems right, I told myself, but despite my reassurance, I didn’t feel very comfortable. After rep 1 I began to shed some of my layers. Each rep essentially repeated itself: Sam and Witty would take off, I’d run even with Texas Paul. I’d pull ahead of Tex, Tex would then pull ahead of me. I’d pull even with Tex. I hit 2:55 over and over again (note – actual distance was .58 miles, not 1k. This was approximately 5:01 pace). I was pretty beat (cardio wise) by rep number 5 and I slowed considerably to a 3:01. I gathered up my warm-ups and started my cool down while the others kept on fighting. The speed caused my hammy/glute to show some signs of stress, but it was nothing like it was after my mile some months ago. Still, it was good I quit while I was ahead. The name of the game now is patience.

On Sunday I ran 14.5 from Old Angler’s Inn with some of the guys. My body felt a little beat from the cross-country running the day before, but I was determined to get in one hundred minutes of running.

I ended up with 63 miles for the week (7 days of running). I’m taking Monday (today) off because I haven’t had one in a couple weeks and my body is beginning to tell me it needs one. Thursday will be a test of sorts. I am running a Turkey Trot 5k on Cape Cod. I don’t know if the course is *really* a 5k or not, so I’ll again be running by feel. I do want to push it though and I do want to hurt. I need to start working out and getting rid of all these cobwebs.