Second Wind

Rest.

Just a no frills 7 mile run this morning.  Felt like I was running in mud today.  I just couldn't seem to get the pace up to where I usually like to keep it so I kind gave up and just trudged along for the reamining miles.  Traffic seemed a little heavier than usual will extreme home makeover so I left the neigborhood again today and ran around some nearby neigborhoods.  I continue to run solo everyday which really SUCKS!  Meg is going in for an MRI today for her shoulder and elbow.  I suspect it will come back negative but with the amount of pain she is in it's better to get it checked out than let it go unknown.  We also have a consultation with an attorney this morning to look at our options for getting reimbursed for some of these medical costs.  I am not the type of person to sue anyone but I do think that reimbursement for medical costs is more than fair in this case.

Time:  59:14  8:28/mile

Suffered from the lead leg syndrom (LLS) again this morning for the first couple of miles and then finally found some rhythm and was able to churn out a few miles at a descent pace.  It wasn't a great run but it was better than yesterday.  Today is the big day of "MOVE THAT BUS" for the extreme makeover home people.  My son gets to stay home from school today so he is going to sit in front of our house and sell soda, candy and chips to the expected 10,000 people who will be arriving in our neighborhood.  They are expected to move the bus sometime between 12 and 4 today so as usual I won't be there for the exciting stuff.  The house is complete and as of this morning they are putting in new furniture and cleaning up.  The house is certainly nothing like all the other cookie cutter houses in our neigborhood.  I'm still not sure I like the design and architecture.....maybe it will grow on me.  I'm sure it will be  a real shocker to the family when they see it.  Should be an exciting day for them.

Time:  58:13  8:19/mile

Good work out today. My 5K training plan called for 3 x 1600 meter repeats with 800 meter recovery inbetween each one. I set up the Garmin to do the mile repeats with the recovery distance and did a two mile warm up and then got into the intervals. The recommended pace for the intervals was 6:47 so I had decided in advance that I would keep the first two right around that pace and then see what I could do on the last one. The first two were 6:44 and 6:43. The last one turned out to be my worst time but I think it was my hardest effort. About halfway through the last one I glanced down at my watch and saw that I was at about a 6:35 pace. I really wanted to try for a 6:30 so I felt like I picked up the pace. The next time I glanced down at my watch (about 30 seconds later) it said I was on a 7:15 pace, WHAT THE!!!!! So I spent the last half of that rep digging really hard only to get it down to a 6:48 at the finish. I really think the Garmin lost me somewhere in that last interval because I wasn't overly fatigued and I was pushing harder. Oh well, it was a good strong effort and despite the time I'm sure I will reap the benefits of the workout. I even broke out the racing flats for todays workout since I rarely ever use the "ruby slippers."

I forgot to report on the results of Meg's MRI yesterday. I guess I didn't report because I don't have the official report yet but I do know some of the details. She will meet with the Orthopedic doc today to go over the "official results." The unofficial results say she has some severe bruising and a small fracture in the upper arm/shoulder area with a possible torn "something or other" that I can't remember right now. I should have better details tomorrow. Nothing from the attorney yet either, but I imagine we won't here anything until next week.

Time: 54:15 7:45/mile

The first couple of miles today were drudgery, not to mention that my Garmin lost me again today....dangit. So my time and pace are a little off, but what am I gonna do. I guess yesterdays speed was a little tougher on the old body than I thought. It really took me a good three miles today before I got into a nice ryhthm and felt okay. Good thing tomorrow is recovery pace too cause I'm kinda tired.

Meg went to the Orthopedic doc yesterday and yes she does have a fracture in the upper arm or shoulder area and she does have a tear (not the rotator cuff, don't know what it's called though) that usually requires surgury, according to the doc, but he doesn't want to do the surgury until the fractured bone has a chance to heal. I guess once it's healed we will re-evaluate the tear and see if surgury is still required. So Meg may not be running for quite some time....she's gonna go nuts.

Time: 52:03 8:40/mile

Felt like the body needed and extra rest today so I took the day off. As much as I really hate to take a day off, I think it is probably the smart thing to do. I was just feeling too much fatigue and my experience in the past has been that running on too much fatigue will lead me right down the road to injury. So I plan to do my long run tomorrow but it may not be as long as I had planned depending on how I feel.

Taking yesterday off turned out to be a pretty good thing.  I had my legs back today and really felt good the entire time.  Ran 4 of the miles at sub 7:50 so that is why I am calling them fast.  Today I ran the first 9 miles near home and then drove over the park were my upcoming 5K will be held and ran 4 miles with another member of our corporate challenge 5K team.  Those miles were in the 9:00/mile range, but I was fine with that becuase the first 9 were a pretty good workout for a long run day.

Time:  1:47:50  8:17/mile