I Can Do This!

My first week back, and I took it slow and easy. I completely deviated from my schedule and worked around when my ankle felt good vs. not so good. I decided that I was running too aggressively early on, so I made sure to slow it down even more toward the end of the week... hence the 10 minute miles on Friday and today. I feel pretty good about this. I am definitely not feeling 100% when I run, but after today, I have the strong feeling I can do this, and that I will be ready to run 26.2 on October 30... albeit slower than I had originally planned for. But that's okay. Next weekend, I plan to do a 16 mile long run. I have also decided that rather than running regular training runs Monday through Thursday, and long runs on Saturday, I'll skip the Monday runs and replace those with shorter recover runs on Sunday. We'll see what this does for me.
And that's it. Now off to the Warrenton airport to watch airplanes dance through the sky all day and cheer on the McShuttle pilot. ("[Insert our last name here] are winners!")

Sunday (9/4):
Miles logged: 5
Miles I was supposed to log: zero
Pace: 9:45 / mile

Monday (9/5):
Miles logged: 5
Miles I was supposed to log: zero
Pace: 9:40 / mile

Tuesday (9/6):
Miles logged: zero
Miles I was supposed to log: 5

Wednesday (9/7):
Miles logged: 6
Miles I was supposed to log: 8
Pace: 9:40 / mile

Thursday (9/8):
Miles logged: zero
Miles I was supposed to log: 5

Friday (9/9):
Miles logged: 5
Miles I was supposed to log: zero
Pace: 10:00 / mile

Saturday (9/10):
Miles logged: 10
Miles I was supposed to log: 16
Pace: 10:00 / mile

I'm Baaaack!?

I ran.  I ran, I ran, I ran.  And I am happy to say that my ankle survived my first post-sprain run intact. It definitely felt a little sore, but it wasn't a sharp or strong pain, so I kept on.  I set out to do 4 miles, and did just that.  (No more, no less, although I had to talk myself down from doing more than what I set out to when I encountered the packs of Potomac Runners on the trail.  Shockingly, I kept my ego in check and ran smart.)  I am debating whether or not I will run tomorrow or wait until Monday.  It might do me good to rest since I spent the last 8 1/2 hours painting in my kitchen, and my muscles are sore from that.  We'll see what I'm feeling like at 5:45 tomorrow morning.

Miles I was supposed to log: 8
Pace: 9:40 / mile

Miles logged: 4

Broken

So I started off week 9 kicking all sorts of ass.  I woke up early each morning (that's right!) and ran before work.  On Saturday, I was on the road by 6:00 (before dawn), planning to run a 16.5 route as my long run, and do it all before Hurricane Irene's winds made the run more challenging.  (Wind = hills = not my favorite thing.)  And I was chugging along thinking only 2 more miles to go, and don't I just rock, and isn't it great that I can run these long distances with pretty much no problem.  And then twist, crunch, crash.  My ankle rolled, and I crumbled to the ground, laying there for a good couple of minutes before I could move.  Fortunately, I had my phone in my water belt, so I called my support vehicle to ask to be picked up.  I had sprained my ankle and I ended up spending the whole day in bed with my foot propped up on a pillow with ice.  Sunday was somewhat similar, except I had no ice with since Irene knocked out our power.  Needless to say that I didn't do any running all week, although today, my ankle feels pretty good (with a sports brace to prevent lateral movement.)  Thus, I am going to attempt to do a short run tomorrow morning.  Here's hoping I'm as ready to go as I think I am, because I am uber-twitchy and need to run.

Monday (August 23)

Miles logged: 5.65

Miles I was supposed to log: 0
Pace: 9:20 / mile

 

Tuesday (August 24)

Miles logged: 5.65

Miles I was supposed to log: 4
Pace: 9:20 / mile

 

Wednesday (August 25)

Miles logged: 7.25

Miles I was supposed to log: 7
Pace: 9:40 / mile

 

Thursday (August 26)

Miles logged: 5.65

Miles I was supposed to log: 4
Pace: 9:20 / mile

 

Saturday (August 27)

Miles logged: 14-ish

Miles I was supposed to log: 16
Pace: I never stopped my watch after the crash, so I have no idea what my pace was