Believe to Achieve

Ran a windy, rainy run to the mouth of AF canyon.  A dude passed me running full speed so of course I had to follow him just a bit to not let get him get too far ahead and think he's superman.  He turned around at the closed potty at the golf course across from Lone Peak High school on the trail and was probably surprised to see me so close to him.  I continued along the trail south.  Lovely rain, wind and COLD.  My  upper arms were numb and I was parched.  My ankles were stiff that when I hit the rocky dirt I tripped a few times and sort of twisted my ankle.  On the downhill my right achilles really started to ache.   Darn.  But of course  I still went ahead and did my pushups.  My shoes were soaked so I did them barefoot.  A mistake as that only stretched the achilles more.  Just when I was making progress on the pushups I am going to have to avoid them for a bit.  This happened in June when I tried the pushups too.  Weak ankles I guess.  Perhaps I should do them with my feet pointed on the ground?  That way  I don't stretch the tendon.  I ran slow the first half as it was steep uphill  so trying to get my AP down was kind of difficult in the cool air.  I was not in pick it up mode.  AP 8:03 for 13.1 decent miles.  Fall leaves lined my pathway.  : D.

Fell asleep early last night and woke at 4am.  Nope too early.  Plan to run 10 if ankle holds up nice and easy.   Fell briefly back to sleep and got out the door finally at 5:50am.  I didn't want to do loops and the later I went the better chance of some light on my way so I could go in surrounding neighborhoods alone and not be freaked out by anything,  mainly of stray dogs.   So I turn on the porch light and head for the outdoors.  HELLO!! what is this? flurries, wind?  cold again?  There were low lying clouds all around me.  It was cool looking but the howling wind was daunting.  Oh well I just decided to trot along.  At about five miles into my run my right achilles started to burn and prevent me from striding correctly.  I tried not to put any weight on it by not pushing off with that foot.  It seemed to help at times but by the end it really was a thorn in my side and is currently swollen and burning. Also the daylight did not shine until the last three miles of my run.  NO sun however.  I was pretty much cold the entire run.  Got my goal done.  Pace 8:31 for 10 miles.  Probably won't run before work tomorrow.  Going to ice, compress and elevate all  I can today.  

Worked.  Day off to rest the achilles and wasn't up for a cold windy run in the dark before or after work. 

Ran with some co-workers-- Taunya, Risa, Ryan and Rhonda.    Actually I  used to run with Taunya and Rhonda a few summers back for a summer.  It was a great time for me as I was getting lonely on my runs and asked about joining them yesterday at work.  So glad to run nice and easy and to run on the JRP.  We ran south to "try" to avoid the cold wind.  When I turned around (I turned at 5 miles while the others turned at 4.7 to stop for Risa to take a gu) it took a bit for me to catch back up to them and WOWSERS was there quite the side/headwind.  How come we didn't notice it on our way south?  Anyway was not inviting but as a group we kept our spirits up.  Ran 10 miles in 8:15 AP.  Not sure why I am on the 10+ mile thing right now?  I guess I am seeing if I have it in me like last year.  My achilles didn't start acting up until about mile 8 just after I had picked it up for a bit to catch them.  My mizunos are desperate for replacement and I am sure have no more support, hence the injury.  Currently waiting for my new mizunos to arrive thru the mail--they are precisions.  

After talking to speedy Kim yesterday I thought I should get my butt in gear and do some lactate threshold workouts she started doing.  I ran one of the workouts Kim emailed me with a nice warmup and cooldown.    The one minute "on"  being at almost all out and the two minutes  "off" at  very easy pace.   The workout:  warmup for three miles at 8:57 pace.  First mile 9:25.  2% grade to keep it real.  It felt so nice.  Then I hopped off to get water and stretch.  Apparently the stretching "awakened" my  right  foot achilles problem again (I iced it last night and it went thru some burning moments while I slept but was gone by morning).  Bummer that it started before I even started so I knew my form was going to suffer.  I started to get a blister on my left foot up on the inner big toe bunion area.  Double bummer. But I persevered and finished slightly shy of my intent.  I was going to run 16 on/offs and the website said 12-16.  I am such an over achiever but I gave up because the achilles was really screamin' by the end.  So  I compromised and did 13, lucky 13.   At 1% I ran 1 minute ON at 10mph (6:00 min/mile) and 2 minutes off at 6.7 mph (8:57 min/mile x 12 then ended with an easier one at 9.6 mph (6:15 min/mile).  Cooldown at 2% for 1.5 miles at 8:27 pace.  Total miles= 10.  Don't know the AP.  Felt good to finish such a hard workout.  What to do about this achilles?  New shoes still haven't arrived so that's part of my problem.  Picked up half a shift for a nurse in need tomorrow so won't be tempted to run on my injured foot again for 10 miles.  Did some arms in the weight room at the PG rec and then came home and did my pushups using my ball at my ankles to avoid the strain on my achilles.  Worked out great.  

Well a funny thing happened after  I wrote yesterday's report about not being tempted to run today....  MY NEW SHOES ARRIVED at 5pm !! What luck!! So I wore them to the first BYU basketball game of the season last night (cause they are so cute and I need to break them in) and after working for 6.5 hours this morning and chowing down on baked masticolli and some chocolate squares, I felt the need to go running.  I was wanting 50 miles for the week and so I ran 7 today.  But not without some discomfort.    Abdominal discomfort.  My stomach didn't register the food I ate until I began running.  So I burped and burped and hoped the nauseating feeling would go.  I couldn't run fast because doing so would shunt more blood away from my stomach and cause further trouble.  I just ran easy and MY FOOT GAVE ME NO PROBLEMS.  It was hurting immensely at work this morning.  I call it one of my MS-like attacks-- burning nerve pain from my neck down thru my chest, hip, leg and foot.  This time on my right side.  It usually happens on my left side but once in a while it pops up on the right side.  I had Troy do trigger point pressure pushes on various areas to release the burning pain after work and the huge eating session.  The massage helped and I was able to think about running and releasing the toxins.  It seems whenever my family (two kids currently and a husband) get colds/fevers I get intense burning nerve pain instead and a headache.  I rarely if ever get a cold.  Knock on wood.    AP for 7 miles = 8:34.