I am getting a little nervous for summer.  It was 80 today.  Really?  On one hand I love it but on the other hand- man it was warm.

I had a big work meeting on Thursday and I was a little stressed about it and figured that combined with the driving to and from and back to work, I would not be in the mood to run on Thursday evening.   So I moved my 45 min easy run to Wednesday.   After Tuesday’s tempo, I knew it was going to be a little rough but man it was a slog.   I was just not feeling it.  I hit 42 minutes but it was only 3.5 miles.  I straight up walked 1 mile of it.   Yeah, it was ugly.

Thursday was my dress meltdown and the big meeting.  They were presenting the President’s Award to one of the Heritage winners so part of the meeting was fun.   My coworker took 1st runner up- woo hoo!  My former boss and I cracked jokes that since we hired him, we could be equally excited.  It was also pretty cool that when they called out the Heritage winners to the front, there were 3 from my location.  🙂   3 out of 19- sweet!

Friday was girls night and yes, we saw 50 Shades of Grey.  I was proud of myself for not getting kicked out of the theater.  ML and I always sit next to each other so we can whisper things but she knew I was going to be a total smart ass so she put everyone else between us.  🙂    This was the worst behaved theater I have ever been in, it was ridiculous.   Some people had had way too much to drink before the movie and kept drinking the whole way through.  The woman in the row behind us made a phone call during the previews because her friends had not arrived.  Said friends arrived 5-10 minutes into the movie, laughing and talking about how they couldn’t find their seats in the dark.  Seriously?!  I think I heard 3 wine glasses break and the women in the front couldn’t go to the bathroom without going in multiples while laughing and yelling at each other as they left.   At the end all the men in the theater boo’d and I laughed out loud.  But other than that and the fact that the Mexican place we went to for dinner made me sick- it was an amusing and fun night.

I worked on Saturday, so I knew I would be eating a later lunch than usual.  This was also apparent when I set out for my run.  The training plan called a 45-55 minute run and fairly shortly, I knew it was going to be closer to 45.  My stride felt off and everything ached.   I was at the top of a hill, 1/2 mile from home when I wanted to curse out loud.  The outside of my right knee and the area a couple of inches up started screaming.   Are you freakin’ kidding me?!  My right leg never hurts, my left one is the problem child.   It felt like something was about to rip.   I instantly stopped and just started stretching on the side of the road.    A few minutes later I decided to see how it felt, I ran home and concentrated on my form just keeping an easy pace.   I felt a little tight but made it home.  I walked up half of my driveway backwards and spent extra time stretching and rolling with my foam roller and stick.

Yesterday’s pain made me nervous for today’s long run.  The plan called for 10-12 and yeah, 12 wasn’t happening.  I headed to the lake path, thinking that flat and outside would be best.  It was also easy access to my car if I needed it.    I was a little worried I would get bored lapping the lake so many times but I have run 10 miles on both a treadmill and the track before so it had to be better than those. Right?   I headed out around 2:00, thinking that I should take it slower and might need more time.    So for the second time in 2 days, I ran too soon after lunch, for me at least.      According to McMillan, my long run pace should be between 10:34-11:54.    I was aiming for 11:15-11:30, I was afraid it was going to hurt and I did not want to push.    My knee felt ok but my left hamstring is still sore from last week’s strength training fail.    I walked my warm up as usual and then picked up the pace.

When miles 2, 3, and 4 clocked in at 10:04, 10:10, and 10:11, I was a little ticked.   It didn’t feel hard but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sustain it with the way I felt and the temp being around 80.    My mom had joined me today and was walking the path and I ran into her on lap 4.  I took that opportunity to extend my walking break.  Since the park was so busy, I walked the playground section every lap- easier to dodge the little people and their parents.  🙂   Even with that longer break, mile 5 was 10:36.    6-10, the heat was getting to me and I finally slowed down a bit.   Those miles clocked in between 10:41-10:50.  Except for 8, that was 11:12.  I admit I almost quit after 8 miles just because I was tired and hot and irritated that I just could not control my pace.   I had a conversation with myself and decided that I wasn’t hurting and should just start acclimating to the heat now since it’s only going to get hotter.    So I finished my 10.    10 miles is a little more than 8 laps so the last .5 mile was me running back and forth between 2 of the exercise stations because I didn’t want to do another lap.   🙂  Plus by then my mom was waiting for me.

I am a little concerned by all the achiness that I have been feeling lately.  It’s one of reasons I passed on my long run last weekend.   I am hoping it’s just the treadmill.   Normally I dropped to running 3x a week during winter so only one run would be on the treadmill.    I run differently on the treadmill and I remember being a little achy last year but not like this.     I am kicking that thing to the curb in 20 days.  But for now, I am pretty sure I can get in a 30-35 minute run outside after work.   I can do my easy run that way and just use the treadmill for my speed work of the week until Daylight Savings time.   The work route is all hill so I could still get in hill repeats  too, the workout might just be a little shorter.

How was your weekend? Who raced?

Anyone else go to the movies?

Anyone else run differently on the treadmill?

• Run!
• Slacker