If you call that speedwork

Last night I warmed up by running (HA) from the house to AHS 2.2 miles. I felt slow, but that was OK. I was using this as my warmup. Funny thing is that I didn't set my watch because I needed to record my lap times. And since this was a long warmup it didn't matter.

I left the house at 6:04. My legs felt heavy. My feet were noisy. Nothing felt right or good. I kept looking at my watch thinking something's wrong. I'm at Santa Anita and Genoa and my watch says 6:26. My brain kept thinking it's taken longer than 6 min 26 sec to get here. I feel like I'm going slow and there's no way I can run that fast. Is my chrono stopped? No, the seconds are still going. What's wrong? Oh. Yeah. DUH! That's the actual time. Then OMG it's taking me this long to get here? Yup that's how my brain was working yesterday.

10 x 200's with 30 sec rest between.
1-1:00
2- 54 sec
3- 57 sec
4- 58 sec
5- 1:02
6- 57
7- 59
8- 1:00
9- 59
10-1:02

I really should have been at 50 sec since those were my times a few weeks ago at BC. I'm attributing these slow times to an off day. I'll see what my times are next week.

I was surprised to see Keith at the track. I picked the track because I didn't think I'd see anyone there. The Wilson people were up on the trail, so I could run around, good or bad, anonymously. Then, on my last lap, I see Keith taking to CF Jer. OK what's he doing here? Nowhere to hide.

Cool down was the 2.2 miles back. I had a tight right glut, pain in my left heel and up my shins. Pain up my shins?!? This is new. I haven't felt that since I started bootcamp, years ago. So it was a long, slow way back home. I walked probably 70% of the time. I'd cool down too much walking so I'd pick up the pace to a slow jog. Walk. Jog. Walk. Jog. All the way home - 2.2 miles of this.

I need to add back more stretching. I became lazy and stopped stretching every day. Now I'm waking up with pain in my left heel for a few days after I run, hobbling around for the first part of the morning. Sucks. This could be due to tightness somewhere, and I'm afraid it might be the start of the dreaded Plantar Facitis. I'm going to combat this with stretching and more streching. Maybe some icing.

Orchard

Saturday 8.6 mi to Orchard and back
Up 1:20:49
Down 54:52
Total 2:15:44

Since I'm not running, and therefore not training for Wilson, I could "enjoy" this run. I started to have some slight tightness and pain in my right hip flexor on the way up, which I think caused some irritation in my left knee. Yeah I know you know how that all works! So I didn't mind having a slower pace on the way down. Hey I'm not racing Wilson so I'm not going to risk injury for a "fun" run.

I got to enjoy the shaded areas, notice how pretty the ferns are, etc. It's really be a while since I've been up to Orchard, so this was a nice run.

What really surprised me was the run on the way down. You know when you're past the ropes, there's the part just before you come upon First Water? The surprise is the familiarity I felt when I hit this section. It hit me! WOW! I know this trial. I knew that once I pass First Water, there's the uphill section and then it's an easy run home from there. I KNEW THIS! I FELT THIS!