I lag

Man, I have been lazy this week. No blog posts since Tuesday! This week was a bit frustrating as after my Tuesday morning run, I tried a 36 hour recovery and I went for a tempo run on Wednesday night to test out my Garmin. It was a pathetic effort and made worse by my nagging IT band, which on this day, decided to shoot pain up into my quad. I managed to make it about 4 miles at 5:45 pace before stomach issues forced me to jog home. I logged 8 miles for the day, but pushed through my injury too much, which forced me to take Thursday off.

The goal for this week was to race the Magic Shoe 5000, a.k.a the Corona del Mar High School Alumni Race. I was hobbling around the office all day on Thursday and Friday morning, so I decided the deciding factor to rate was I had to run on Friday. I headed over to the high school on Friday to attempt 5 miles on grass, hoping the soft surface would help me. Although I struggled to get going, by the end of my run, I had loosened up enough that I was jogging comfortably. I also made sure to stretch about 20 minutes before and after, and when I got home I sat on the foam roller and iced my IT band. So about 12 hours before the race start, I decided Magic Shoe was a "go".

Mom drove me over to the high school on Saturday morning since she was the honorary starter. We had worked on a gimmick before hand where she would say "on your mark, set, Josh do you need to use the bathroom?, GO!", but she chickened out. It would have been GOLD! Anyways, the course was mostly flat circling my alma mater, which a quick out and back turnaround down Eastbluff Drive, all on asphalt, all territory in my wheelhouse. I also wore my Garmin during a race for the first time, just to see how close it came to measuring my pace. (Very close!)

Cush and I cruised through the first mile in 4:51, which was surprisingly easy. We made the left turn onto Eastbluff Drive and still had about 3-4 guys right on us, but based on some comments I overheard they were not up for the pace. After the turn we picked up a bit of a tailwind, and picked up the pace to get some space, and in turn dropped all but one person, Coach's sophomore, Blake Myers. At the U-turn back toward school, Cush pulled ahead and Blake was still on me, but started fading a bit so I picked up the pace just enough to drop him right before the 2-mile marker (9:45). I had about 3 strides over the course of the race that made my IT band twitch a bit, but with a quick form correction, I was able to make the discomfort subside. With 1200 meters to go, I was 10 seconds behind Cush and had enough of a cushion to cruise mile 3 in about 5:16, but had a nice pickup on the track, and finished in 15:29, good enough for 2nd place (and 1st alumni). I am pretty satisfied with that time given my recent injuries and current fitness level. After a 3-mile cool down I stopped by the iCool tent and hopped in the ice bath for 10 minutes, which worked wonders on my IT band.

With only four runs for the week I was at 29 miles and really wanted to hit 40 again, so I drove up to El Morro this morning and set out for a nice 11 mile run, hoping my body would cooperate. Again, I took the Garmin to play with the pace calculator and altimeter. I officially love using the Garmin. When I figure out how to export this workout from the "training center" on my PC to this blog I'll post the splits, but for now, I averaged 6:42 for 11 miles with 1500 feet of climbing and descending. With the exception of the first mile, I really didn't notice my knee. Before the run I took about 15 minutes to loosen up and go through my stretching routine, and afterward, I spent another 20 minutes stretching out on the grass (while dodging a swarm of bees). I was pleased to hit 40 miles, and even more pleased that as I write this blog I'm feeling pretty good right now.

Back to back 40 miles weeks, knee is on the mend, and Camp Pendleton Mud Run title to defend this weekend. Things are looking up on the running front.