3 More On Days

First, thanks for comments and emails. Not responding to any comment in particular, but I should elaborate on my decision to switch to running for the time being. My poor race in Boulder recently didn't have much if anything to do with the decision. More so the decision had to do with how excited I was to race before the race -- which is to say not very. Even more so the decision had to do with how my desire to push myself in tri training was this past year. I see cyclists out now and feel content with my decision. I'll still do my favorite climbs from time to time.

I do worry about injuries now that I'm running so much, so I'm building my mileage slowly as mentioned before. But perhaps just as importantly I'm taking a bunch of other steps to stay injury free. One of those steps is frequent calf massages. I annoy Stacey every other evening by asking her to do a "The Stick" session on my Achilles and both calves. While it doesn't match the effectiveness of a real massage therapist (based solely on my subjective feelings), The Stick does seem fairly effective. Over the course of one session my calves can go from painful to touch to being able to handle all the pressure Stacey can muster.

Right after my Achilles injury, my left calf was so sensitive that she could barely apply any pressure. I wonder whether calf tightness may have contributed to my injury, and I'm not taking chances with that again.

Anyhow, on with the show:

Today
No running, just some injury prevention stuff.

Wednesday
12.3 miles in 1:32. That's 7:34/mile, and my HR averaged 152. I ran somewhat Fartlek in style, changing up my pace frequently but never going really hard. Oh, and it was 100+ degrees according to a toggling electronic bank sign I passed. I felt okay. Not great, not horrible.

Tuesday
Easy run, again by feel but wearing a Garmin to see the stats afterwards.
53 minutes - 6.7 miles
140 bpm average with an average pace of 7:48/mile
Felt good, run was cake. Legs, especially my calves, felt tired but also springy. It was an oddly contradictory feeling.

Monday
A bad night of sleep after Ozzy woke me up at 2:30am and I couldn't fall back asleep.
57 minutes - 7.6 miles
5 min at each of 155, 160, 165, 160, 155 bpm continuous
155 -- 7:06/mile (slight downhill, the rest is slight uphill)
160 -- 7:04/mile
165 -- 6:57/mile
160 -- 7:18/mile
155 -- 7:20/mile
Those pace:HR ratios all pretty much suck. Maybe it was the slight uphill, or maybe it was the fatigue I'm carrying from trail run on Saturday.

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Today's song: a classic sounding indie-rocker from a horribly named band, Yuck. This sounds really familiar, maybe some Sonic Youth and Pixies influence with something else I can't put my finger on.