Week 8: Confidence (re)building time

(Monday, 15 October)
Morning easy-longer with I., did Lower the short way down Glenarm/Columbia. Started out really easy because my side was hurting me, but I got it under control after about 1.5 miles. Once we got to the Arroyo I tried to pick it up a little bit. By the end I felt much better. Then I did some high quality lifting afterwards. I like lifting and running in the same chunk of day, it made me feel better the rest of the day and less tired.

(Tuesday, 16 October)
AM workout with the gang. Side hurts but no cramping until the cooldown. Did the SM downhill "mile" (slightly less than a mile) 5.45. That was a good feeling, usually I feel super dead on that grass. Then we went to Lacy, and paired up (I got Perrin). We did 5 intervals of our discretion between 1.30 and 2.30 long with 1 minute rest in between. Ours were 2.30, 1.30, 2.30, 2, 2.15. I think they were pretty much the same pace though (about the mile pace, maybe a little slower). Pretty tired at the end.

(Wednesday, 17 October)
AM Lifted, increased weight on a bunch of things.

PM hip hurting, so I came back early from our easy run. It may have had something to do with the fact that I increased weight on the hip adductor machine this morning, or it might have been that I was wearing my gym shoes (old MVA, I think pair #9), or both. I'm going to put pair #10 in the locker now. Heat and ice today.

(Thursday, 18 October)
IT band still hurting, kinda bothered me throughout the day. Heated and it surprisingly felt fine during the run. Workout: 3 on 2 off times 6, with staggered starts 15 seconds in 3 groups as race-like "catch-up" practice. It really kept me motivated. I felt like I ran pretty hard. A much more effective feeling workout than 3 on 2 off usually is for me. Iced and rolled IT/butt afterwards. Andres confirmed it's pulling on my piriformis, which I can now confirm is a total bitch.

(Friday, 19 October)
Today's conclusion: Kangway is a machine.

Lifted lightly (no bench), Lorain with Susan. Felt really good afterwards. IT band didn't hurt during the run, but I still heated and iced afterwards. The reason I now know Kangway is a machine is that for the first time I got into the cold whirlpool up to my belly. Some observations:

1) Wearing bummies around is fairly liberating, even though I didn't look like this.
2) The first 3 minutes were very hard, after that it was okay, as long as I didn't let my legs touch the side of the whirlpool, which felt creepy.
3) I think wearing the booties helped
4) I got much colder after I started to thaw out/not be numb
5) my legs felt good afterwards (!)

So hopefully this little flare-up is on its way out.

(Saturday, 20 October)
Mile repeats (well, 1600s) on the track with plenty of rest (~3min). 6.46, 6.43, 6.40, 6.38. Didn't feel too great about this workout. I should have put it out there a little more and ran with the top group (or at least a bit closer). I would have liked to have done all 6.40 or below. I did faster than this last spring on the track with Susan, with 5 reps instead of 4 and less reps. On the other hand, this workout felt significantly easier. I was definitely in control. It was weird being on the track with another runner (Perrin) with me after last track season. Confidence still low I guess.

(Sunday, 21 October)
Off, cleaned up around the house and thought about grad school. Bleh. Good to take a day off. IT feeling better.