Saturday Run

I had a good run this morning-- 20 miles. It was starting to get painful toward the end, but that's no surprise. Stopping actually hurt more than continuing, so I was quite a sight once I got home, stumbling painfully around as I tried to change clothes so I could go soak my legs in the cold swimming pool. That water was cold! It hurt so bad I actually had to get out for a minute, get my courage back up and then get back in. But I eventually settled in, had my hot chocolate (what was left of it after I Frankenstein-walked to the pool) and toughed out ten minutes.

Today was the local Team in Training's 20+ mile run, their last long run in preparation for the marathon. Their rest stations looked so good! They had cookies, bananas, watermelon and other goodies. I was very tempted to stop and beg a bit of Gatorade off them or something, since I was running on water, Endurolytes and Hammer Gel only. But I resisted the temptation and didn't bother them. I'm guessing Houston Fit will be out there next weekend and since I know a lot of those people maybe I can beg a Clif Bar or something. I intend to do 22 or 23 next weekend and then taper. I'm already trying to decide on my route for next weekend. I've been intentionally staying close to home and close to where I know I can find clean restrooms, but it's so boring doing loops! A training run of 20 miles or more is kind of hard to deal with even under the best circumstances. Unlike race day, there are no bands, no one cheering.

I've decided, based on how I felt today and last Saturday, that foot and calf weakness are my biggest run limiters at this time. I should've continued with jumping rope every week, after starting it last summer and then getting lazy about it. I might've even been able to prevent the injury I got last month. I'm wondering now if it's too late to make a difference if I were to do just 5 minutes of jumprope every day, as opposed to the longer 15-20 minute sessions once a week that gave me so many calf and arch cramps over the summer. I think I'll give it a try, since 5 minutes shouldn't be long enough to injure myself, but doing it daily should give me some good results quickly. Anything that doesn't injure me will help at this point. I don't buy the bullshit about not being able to make any more significant gains this close to a marathon. How silly. Even small gains in strength or flexibility will help, and these can certainly happen in two to four weeks.

After today's run and after I did a bit of maintenance on my sore and tired legs, Dan and I went for Indian food-- my second Indian feast in two days! Yesterday's office party was full of Indian food, much to my chagrin. I can resist lasagna, poboys, ham and other such fare, but I'm a hopeless case when they set out saag paneer, three kinds of daal and paneer in curry sauce. It's been interesting to see the shift in what shows up at our potlucks over the past few years. I'm sure having an Indian boss has something to do with it, but in general our Indian employees have started to realize that the office is full of Indian food lovers and they are happy to accomodate us by bringing their favorite recipes from home or bringing goodies from their favorite restaurants. I don't know how they all stay so thin, though. I have to limit myself to Indian food only once a week on long run days or I'll be huge! Oh, did I mention I brought home some naan from today's lunch with Dan? He probably thinks he'll get to eat it all. Ha! I think it will make a great accompaniment to my butternut squash dish or to a salad tomorrow. Dan better move fast if he thinks he's getting all that naan!

Today's Workout
Run - 20 miles