April 15

FIT:
Back on the road after about 10 days w/o running workouts. I did 16.2 in a record slow time of 2:18. The previous two times were 2:14 and then 2:16. It's okay, though. I'm just getting back into it, and I was glad just to finish. I got the 7th mile chills at mile 8 when I stretched at the turning point. At somewhere btwn 3 and 2 miles left, the outside of my right knee felt strained, like it was being twisted in a bad direction. Feels mostly okay now, though. My lead/numb legs set in with about a mile to go. It was tough pushing my way through the final hill.

I ate 4 shot bloks, cola flavored w/ 50mg of caffine per 3 bloks. It gave me energy, which was much needed since I ate below average today. However, the sugar seemed to make the hunger and emptiness in my stomach more noticeable. I'd rather eat something big and substantial, I think, even fibery, proteiny stuff, like a big turkey burger on a ww roll. Mmm... Yeah, the cola bloks kind of made my stomach uneasy, too, and it didn't taste like cola. Plus, with the cold, the bloks were hard at first, and I feared choking on it or something, and it took a while to soften. Once it did soften, it was way too gelly and got stuck everywhere. I think I prefer Gu gels. After the run, I had to cook for 2 hrs. I was so hungry and downed a cup of milk and a monster bowl of black bean chili with brown rice, plus half a grapefruit.

Splits> 9:36t, 4:o9p, 4:06h, 4:17b (22:10 at this point), 4:36x, 2:45w (29:32 here), 15:03d (44:36 here), 4:10r1, 4:56r2, 3:06g (7 mi mark - 56:50 here), 9:18o (many exposed roots from rain - 1:06:09 here), 9:40g, 3:16r2, 5:11r1, 4:29d (1:28:47 here), 16:30w, 3:09x, 5:07b, 4:39h, 4:28p, 4:37t, 10:582. Clearly slowed down all the way through the way back.

Cumulative mileage: 229+16.2 = 245.2.

I'm so tired.

// the next day... lower right quadrant of right knee = misery. took an aspirin, it was so bad. at times, feels like something in there is hanging on by a string. left butt also hurts, like it needs a good massaging. the right knee felt a bit better after something popped in it when i twisted my body a bit at one point, but still not great. oh, man. going from 0 to 16.2 maybe not a great idea. is this kind of pain normal for distance runners? i've heard cs and jk talk about injuries and needing to take a bit of time off before, so it's probably something at least kind of commonplace. i did forget to stretch well after yesterday's run, though. how stupid of me. i gotta listen to the advice of the track star.

i'm inpatient. i like to push hard to get results. i end up sabotaging my goals by going past what i can handle, though. steady is tough.