I've been having a hard time recovering from my100K a month ago. I mean, I can go out pretty fast on tiny little short flat runs, up to about 10K, but somewhere around 11-12 miles I've been blowing out on my long runs. It's as if my legs are slowly recharging and each little run empties them out again. I start slowing down pretty dramatically and my legs feel HEEAAAAVVVVY.
I hadn't been running any trails until earlier this week for the first time since then, and felt like I had never ever run trails. Ever. I forgot that running and climbing these hills is kind of like climbing stairs.
Today, though, I felt better. We did a hilly 10k behind our house, Baboo and I, along with Bones, Wingman, and DP, and the first part I was having a hard time catching my breath but then I felt like I found my stride. Baboo carried a flour bottle and marked turns in the run because they were so far ahead, which was helpful. I finished about a 10K and then finished my 10 miles by running down to Einstein's bagels, and got a bagel thin egg white sandwich thing, which is "a limited time only" but I hope they offer it longer because it was just enough. I got a total of 10 miles in, and felt like I could have run longer, which is the first time I've felt anything like that since Javalina.
So maybe I'm finally coming back. But am I coming back enough to do the double this next week? I imagine that whatever's in my legs today will be gone by next Sunday night. I'm leaning back towards just saying, fuckit, put on my Elvis costume and wig and run the half, and have fun at Vegas, where they insist on telling me that I can run the full OR renew my vows on the course, but I can't do both, given the whole 5:30 cutoff. Turds.
But I have hope. I have hope that this winter I'll be able, somehow, to keep running. This will be quite a trick, because I'll have classes Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I'll be tweaking my training plan to adjust for the fact that three days, I simply can't run during 14 hour days. Thursdays I'll try to knock out a 10K, and then on weekends, I'll load up the missing miles by doing back-to-back long runs to condition me for the doubles I'm doing in May. One of those long runs will have to be on trails.
I'm having some whisperings from my IT band. Actually, it started as whisperings and now has worked its way to muttering. I think it might be because I've been using the same shoe constantly. I'm going to go back to switching my shoes out. And speaking of shoes, I found out that there is a trail show built on the same last as the shoes I already love, which are mens shoes. I'm going to get a pair and see how I like them.
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