Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Run #2.3 - Hello Spring!

Short sleeves & a skirt. Awesome!!
My third run in this round of training was good, yet bad. The plan was to enjoy 5 miles in the wonderful sunshine that I have missed so much. The best part of this run? Going out in just a skirt and shirt. No arm sleeves. No gloves. Nothing to keep my ears warm. Just the basics (granted my "basics" always include compression socks, my Road ID and my Garmin). Since this was shorter and I wanted to feel "free", I also left the water bottle and cell phone at home. It was great!

When I got to the park it was very active. Dads were tossing footballs with their kids, the play structure was completely covered in small people and dogs were owning any free space of grass they could get! It was great!! Welcome back, Spring!

The run itself was nice. I did have a moment of nerves when I was running toward 4 boys that were blocking the entire path across the bridge. I don't know what it is about groups of boys but they just make me uneasy. Perhaps this is because I assume every male is a serial killer (which in turn makes me feel safer if I just assume and prepare for the worst). At the last minute they finally gave me some clearance. Gee, thanks.

About half way in I paused to massage my calf. During Sunday's 10 miler I got a killer cramp and it is still sore. Is this normal to be sore from a cramp two days later? I quickly picked back up and went on my way. Three miles in, I had a strange sensation in my ankle area. This was it. I just knew that I had some major injury or I was bleeding. It was just below where the cramp was and I was scared to even investigate. I gave in and pulled over - expecting the worst. Ha! It was just a little bit of shrubbery that managed to get into my sock region. Phew!

After that I was really in a zone. I felt great. My legs were feeling the best they have in a long time. I was just concentrating on every step and leg movement. I glanced at my Garmin .... 9:30. Wow! It used to be that 10:30 felt great, and now it is 9:30? Now if only I could maintain!! It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, however. At 3.8 it all stopped. My left calf was screaming at me. I pushed it two more tenths of a mile, still with visions of hitting 5 miles, but it wasn't to be. I ended up finishing 4 miles in 40 minutes and taking a long, slow, limping mile-long walk home. I wrapped the sore spot with the Arctic Ease I was given at the Fit For a Princess Expo and felt instant relief! I kept it wrapped for a couple of hours and it stayed nice and cool the entire time. Score!!

So that was run three. Kind of crazy that the next half marathon is only 18 days away!

11 comments:

  1. 18 days?! Wow, chick, you waste no time!!

    I bet you kill it :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was too scared to do any more math ... basically the NEXT half marathon will be about 3 weeks after that one!

    I will have completed 3 in 66 days!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow. You're a crazy person :D. Are you going for Half Fanatics?!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are doing awesome!
    On your cramp, do you drink a lot of water/stay well hydrated? Bananas are also bueno...

    ReplyDelete
  5. lately my calves have been acting up too. if you have a foam roller or stick, it works WONDERS for calves. Apparently they are supposed to be super loose so that when you flick them, they should jiggle, who knew

    ReplyDelete
  6. As if I haven't said enough, you are awesome! Three half marathons in 66 days!

    Oh my goodness! Must you remind me that the next half marathon is in 18 days?

    And how on earth did you calculate "two more tenth of a mile?" I can only count with my fingers and toes... everything after that is beyond me. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Giraffy ... I wasn't intentionally going for the Half Fanatic status - but the way they got scheduled just happened to work out that I WILL qualify! CRAZY!!

    @JessiePants ... I have SUCKED at hydrating lately. I am the first to admit it. And bananas? I love them - yet always forget to buy them. Lesson learned!

    @Lisa J ... I really want a roller or stick. I hear good things, too. This is now moving up to the top of my shopping list! Who would ever think you would WANT to jiggle??

    @Christina ... my lovely Garmin told me it was .2 left until 4 miles. And I pretty much stared at it for the entire 2/10 of that mile waiting for it to hit four! Don't worry - in 18 days we will both be awesome. That's why we are running twins!

    ReplyDelete
  8. You are amazing!! I can't believe your next half is in 18 days!! I will also echo the comments of a foam roller or stick.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I get nervous about groups of boys too. There is a path near my house that goes behind a golf course, whenever I get weird vibes I always tell myself I can run across the course to get away from any nutjobs.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You are an inspiration! Just have to put that out there. Your race schedule would probably kill me right about now (I'm still working to run my first half in October). Power to you girl! Rock on!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sounds like you had a great run!

    You are going to kill the next half!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading my little blog, your comments rock my compression socks!! ºoº