May 9

FIT:
14.2er w/ AB. Hot and humid. "Feels like 90ish?" Wanted to test loose cotton vs. tight synthetic, b/c I already know loose synthetic > loose cotton. Turned out that tight anything's uncomfortable. It's better to breathe. Sports bras and singlets are best. For water, I carried the 20oz for about half of the 3.75mi to the overpass, and AB took it for the other half, then we stashed it.

Had to stop at the post-Wm overpass, then at the 14.2 turnaround, then at the overpass, then before the hill back. My legs were sapped of energy it felt like. It was like having just a lot of dead weight, with the muscle not doing anything. Perhaps it's the effect of heat. From what I understand, when it's hot, more blood flows to your skin to help cool you, leaving less blood for your muscles. Breathing-wise, I was fine. It was just a lack of muscle action. When we'd stop to stretch, the breeze caused by running pace stopped, so sweat would bead up quickly. My clothes were so wet by the end.

Splits> 8:54 t, 4:00 p, 3:58 h, 4:14 b (21:07 here), 4:41 x, 2:51 w (28:41 here, stopped a/b 400m past this), 15:17 d (43:59 here), 4:30 r1, 5:17 r2, 4:16 g (58:02 here, stopped, TURNAROUND), 4:03 r2, 5:13 r1, 4:35 d, 16:33 w (stopped a/b 400m b/f this), 3:05 x, 5:09 b, 4:41 h (so slow from here on out!), 4:30 p, 4:35 t (stopped here), 10:41 (perhaps a record slow uphill)... TOTAL: 2:01:13. Tough run. Really thirsty on the last uphill. Pace: 8:32/mi.

Injury report: Knee a bit testy sometimes, esp the last half mile before the turnaround, but after that, going slower, it felt okay.

BAD NEWS: Sprained my ankle playing tug-of-war. Sucks when you get taken out of 6 weeks of training from something stupid. It's not quite like hurting yourself getting up from the couch to get the remote or a snack, or stepping out of a bathtub, but it's up there. It feels normal when I do regular walking. Any rolly action makes it worryingly painful. Not that it hurts that much, but I just know that it's a serious enough injury that I'll be out for a while. I took an aspirin, iced it, and am elevating it. When it happened, I heard multiple cracking noises successively within a second or so. It was kind of loud. It usually doesn't make noises like that when I sprain it. Kind of scary.

Maybe it's a good thing, though. I've plateaued, and maybe some forced rest time will be what I need. After taking a month completely off, with the month before that really light, with the month and a half before that completely off, I was able to make tons of progress within about a month and a half - I was really fast in March. Now, I'm slow again. It only took a month and a half to get there, even after so much time off. Maybe the rest will do me good, and maybe I can repeat that kind of fast-paced progress. It won't be quite the same because of the far hotter temps, but you gotta see the good in these things.

This will be a time to put my faith to the test. Where does my identity lie? In Christ. Like RB said, every gift we have - our health, our smarts - is something we received in the first place only by God's grace, and it is maintained only by God's grace. There's no boasting here. Whatever I happen to have, use it to glorify God and serve others - that's what it comes down to in the end. The variables are... variable. But the objective function remains the same.