Pushing through the pain...

Followed the plan yesterday with an easy 2. Pushed C1 for the first mile and C2 on the second. C1 also rode her bike for mile 2 which dropped the pace down. It was great to get out with them on the road and a good test for longer runs in the future. My program has Saturdays as an off day and Sunday as a short easy run before a "sort of long run" on Mondays. I'm going to try to alternate the kids every other week but may have to get a dual stroller to avoid juvenile conflict.

Today's run was the 4.5 Common route. Late start today at 6:45 meant heavy pedestrian traffic to dodge. Kept it easy, but not too easy for me, at 9:30 pace. I'm more concerned with the mileage than the time...at least thorough the end of the year. Left hammy was still tight. However, the left ankle is more troublesome. Still can't figure out if its the ankle or shin splints. Hopefully an easy pace / ice regimen will be enough to cure it. Otherwise I feel great. Last week's total of 16 is a PR.

Lessons Learned

1. Don't eat Indian food the day before a run.
2. Hydrate better when working from home
3. Don't bookend 4 runs (21 miles) with 5 milers pushing Child Two in the Stroller.

I'm working from home today so grabbed a 5 miler at lunch. It was pure misery. I had no rhythm, no stride and never got comfortable I got in the miles but I'm going to reconsider tomorrow's three I need to pace myself more perhaps because today's performance was sub-par.

Big Weekend

I did 5.2 on Saturday with Child Two in the jogging stroller. I had him bundled up and had the rain shield down to keep the wind off of him so I couldn't completely hear all of his patter but he kept up an almost continuous stream of commentary for the whole run. We went later in the day and he kept saying how it was getting dark, and it was nighttime. It was fun. There were a couple of stops to adjust his Froggy Friend and his blanket and I covered the distance in 49 minutes. Not blazing, but not bad either, and thee was a point along the route where I really felt the joy of running. We were on long, straight, flat, quiet road -- running basically down the middle -- and I wasn't thinking about much except the great sense of motion and movement I was feeling at that time.

Sunday was a different matter. I went out in a pretty stiff snowfall and did 8.1 in a glacial 88 minutes. Traction was lousy, visibility was lousy in parts as I ran into the wind and the route I picked was hilly. I walked every 1.5 miles or so and swigged my water and I brought a light snack of pretzels and yogurt-raisins and this helped my energy, though I have to admit that right now this distance is a bit longer than I feel ready for. I don't know how much to factor conditions into this pace, but they definitely impacted me. Never the less, I got out and did it to it. I had hoped to be covering 20 miles/week for a month prior to training but now I'm finding myself ramping up training mileage and training for a marathon at the same time. Not optimal, and not my usual method, but I figure the best way to get fit is to push and go long.