Aug 29

FUN:
Woo-hoo! Not a made-up word, but I'll use it.
Yesterday and today, I explored Philly w/ LW. Packed the weekend with tons of history, politics, academia, and ethnic food. It was fun just to explore, choosing what to do as we went along depending on the cool things we discovered.

We hit the Liberty Bell (bell fail, symbol win), Independence Hall, Betsey Ross's house, Ben Franklin's grave, Pen's landing, the Constitution Center, Penang Malaysian Restaurant, a used book store, the Bourse (an old fancy hotel renovated to have a food court), U Penn, a car tour of the boathouse and Philly Art Museum area, a Euro Sandwich Shop (sooooooooooo good - had an incredible, savory Salmon Wrap with eggplant sauce, sweet potato and ginger soup, green tea, and fries with garlic sauce. Sooooooo delicious!!! Lots of walking and taking in the city. Although big and busy, it's shorter (skyscraper-wise), cleaner, and less hectic than NYC.

FIT:
The walking didn't affect me too much. I went in flip flops, to keep my feet cool, to give my feet more of a barefoot rather than supported workout, and to not ruin my shoes.

Needed to get in my miles, so I did 9.0 on the treadmill, perhaps a record since the half in April. I've been feeling good and able to recover quickly, so that's been waiting to come out. My TA's were getting a bit worked over, but not that bad. From the sounds of it, my right footfall was heavier, if sound was an indication. I think it was partially to protect the right TA. At one point at about mile 4, ont of my "_CL's got yoinked a bit. It happened whenever I'd overstride. I think the TA being strained a certain way had something to do with it. I was carefult to keep a shorter stride after that. Seems okay. Just be careful.

It was a progression run, 9.0 in 1:11:31, 7:57 ave. Splits> 8:22, 8:05, 8:01, (25:17 5k), 7:53, 7:51, 7:51, (49:42 10k), 7:52, 7:50, (1:08:34 for 8.6, which is the distance of my usual long runs... although they should be slower because they're on a hilly course), 7:37. No water during the run, but I had 2 cups of cold water and a ThinkThin protein bar immediately before for dinner. Wore 1224's, low cut socks, watched tv at times.

Treadmill characteristics:
Unlike the one at my apartment's finess room, this one's shifts from one 0.1mph to another was noticeble... a minus. This one had built-in fans... a plus. Other than that, they're pretty similar in terms of feel/cushioning, functionality, etc.

Okay, time to prep the logistics for tomorrow and to hit the sack. I got 7 hrs of sleep last night, like double what I've been averaging for the past 3 weeks. Felt good. Could've slept more, of course, but it was nice.