Week 8: And Kiesz said, "Thou shalt have no run under 7 miles; and it was good."

(Monday, 9 July)
Ran the lagoon nice and easy, trying to shake the legs out a bit and get them rested for this week and going into next week. Also did a little bit of the hills east of the house. Going to just keep a long average run this week, with maybe one long one. (I realize I'm just going to start having to get up earlier and earlier... which is scary). Also did my best to keep the ride into work easy, after how tired I was feeling by the end of last week. Maybe I'll take the bus one day this week when I do a long run. Come to think of it, this might be the week to try running into work for the first time. Low tide anyone? But I digress. Legs feeling good, and to be honest, I've noticed myself randomly getting super aggressive going up hills or picking it up for no reason (running and also on the bike). WTF? That's certainly never happened before.

(Tuesday, 10 July)
Ran home from work in the PM. Felt bad, because I'd jokingly said that if I wasn't home by 6.30 or 7 to send out the search parties, and the Lesleys actually did (I didn't leave until 5.20 -- d'oh). But it was okay. Ran pretty slow, especially on the beachy parts. This run will be a lot better on the days when the tide is low and I can do the beach from SB to TP. I was pretty hungry by the end and gobbled some gu in the garage like Gollum. I also should have drank more during the day. But a bigger lunch definitely helped, I had a smallish dinner and wasn't too munchy before bed like usual (but that might have been due to the post-run-lack-of-appetite). However, I was distinctly less awake in the morning so I think I still prefer morning runs. Legs pretty tired afterwards.

(Wednesday, 11 July)
AM run 12 hours after the last run? Priceless. Ran pretty slow but it was still hard to get after it. Did the Highland loop because I didn't want to see too much of the lagoon today. Nice and slow, it takes about 7 minutes to get up the hill. I think next time I should do this run backwards, so the pavement is on the uphill and the soft path is on the downhill for my knees and such. Legs a little tired, especially on the bike on the way to work. Took the steep way since I didn't pack my lunch this morning and my panniers were lighter than average. 1.2k at 8-10% leveling off to 7% at the end. It was hard, but not that bad. Glad for my granny gear.

At the top, a fellow caught up to me who I guess had been reeling in my lardass since the bottom. He was like "Holy shit! You can climb! I've been trying to catch you this whole time and it was a hell of a lot harder than I thought it would be! I thought I was doing well putting out 300 watts and then I looked up and saw you with your saddlebags!" And no he wasn't fat (maybe 165) so 300 watts isn't depressing. So we rode the rest of the way to UCSD together and chatted and he was still all impressed at my nunchuck skillz. So, I'd like to take a minute and say: Megumi, Will, Ian, McKeen, Tracy -- thank you for kicking my ass constantly when we ride together. Because of you, I have gained the ability to make even grown men with PowerTaps impressed by the feeble climbing I can do with the stealthy strength of my gelatinous legs and out-of-breath huffing and puffing.

However, he also said he didn't see a lot of "cute, sporty" girls like me when he was visiting Caltech. So maybe he was just into big butts and was only elaborately hitting on me the whole time. I guess we'll never know.

(Thursday, 12 July)
Cut my run short because my legs have been so sore today, just trying to listen to the bod. Did a relaxed 50 minutes around town, avoided hills. (Downhill was especially painful on my quads). No advil, but icing helped soreness a lot afterwards. Definitely loosened up after the first 20 minutes or so, and even though I thought I was running especially slowly, I found my last mile was still only 8.45, so I guess I'm still faster than I think. I thought I was running 10s.

(Friday, 13 July)
Off, went to DMV to start class-B adventure. Hot date with Lisa tonight -- gonna go see Rat finally.

(Saturday, 14 July)
Everything was going great along the beach until I ran in the surf for a few steps and absolutely destroyed my left ankle; I don't know if I stepped on a rock or in a hole or what, but I almost ate it. It was awful. I felt so, so bad about it. I can't believe it affected me (emotionally) so much. I managed to limp up the nearest stairs, walked for a block or so, and then jogged it home. Then I iced and took some ibuprofen and tried to stay off it as much as possible, although I probably walked on it a little too much. I am such a freaking spaz and idiot. UGH! I always had great ankles! Frick.

So this episode of freak-out made me realize:
1) I am so sucked into numbers right now -- I think the thing that bothered me the most was the delay to getting to 50 miles. I am anxious about that and this doesn't help.
2) I am taking miles too seriously. The most important thing is HEALTH at this point, NOT miles. A few days off to get the ankle back to health isn't going to do anything major to my fitness levels.
3) I need to take a few days off, for my brain AND my ankle.

In better news, Lisa and I hit PB with Matt and Friends, which was awesome. LOVE that guy. Got a rad CR burrito and a dose of vitamin Kiesz, which I totally needed.

(Sunday, 15 July)
Decided to turn my "OMG I can't run I'm going to die" energy into positive biking energy. Rode about 100km to San Onofre state beach and back through Camp Pendleton. Pendleton was possibly the best place for biking open to cars I've been to. The cars I did see were few and very respectful of the bike. There was a ton of bikes there too. Got stopped twice talking to this older guy named Mark who gave me directions through the base and some good tips, including that I should be wearing sunscreen (he was right). But I liked just being out there by myself most of all. Wasn't dead at all after 4 hours which was a good confirmation of my fitness level. But, my stomach was a little upset afterwards (as per usual) so I possibly didn't get enough food for dinner (lunch on the ride consisted of 2 gu's and a Larabar).

Didn't do PT afterwards because my shoulder/back were a little tired. Iced some more, and ankle seems to have stabilized (ie is not getting worse). Hurts to the touch and is pretty puffy, but most of the swelling is on the side of my foot by the anklebone, not on the top of my foot. Walking is okay but I have to be careful doing stuff like getting up from sitting/lying down.

-----------------------------------------------------------
total miles: 33
(goal miles: 45)