I'm Back Baby!!

Training can be funny sometimes. I used to take a week or two off after a cross country or track season and it would usually take me a week or two of running to feel like I was fit, and back in my comfort zone. The further out of college I get, the longer it takes to get into that zone. My training binge has lasted since the Surf City Half Marathon in February, over four months, and in that time I've felt good, but always had nagging soreness or pain regardless of my effort. I've been dealing with these IT band issues for over three months, and haven't had a 100% comfortable run, until this week.

Karen and I met the past three days for a challenging series of runs. On Wednesday evening, we hit Back Bay and Eastbluff for an easy 9 miles (11 for her), at around 7:30 pace. It wasn't an overly difficult run except my stomach was churning butter for the first five miles. Additionally, I went shirtless for the run, and it turned into a warm evening so I was sweating a bit more than usual, causing some chafing in some uncomfortable places.

She had a six-mile tempo run scheduled for the folowing morning, which I was somewhat reluctant to join, given the short 12-hour recovery from the night before, but I figure I might as well go for it, plus the Lakers played last night and there was no way I was missing that. We also joined by John Loftus, who trains marathoners in the area. We met at CdM High School and headed down the bike path for a two-mile warm-up. My IT band was exceptionally tight from the night before so I was not feeling overly optimistic about the 6:00 "tempo" and indicated I might quit if my knee got too painful. I spent the first two miles hobbling along-side Karen and John on the dirt shoulder, and the pain was actually increasing to the point where I thought about stopping. Then, I decided to hop on the asphalt, which surprisingly made the pain completely disappear. I gradually escalated the pace over the last four miles, and we ended up splitting: 5:56, 6:00, 5:52, 5:51, 5:53, 5:54. It was Karen's workout so I stayed alongside her to motivate her over the last couple miles (she did great!). The best part: it was SOOOO easy; it was college-easy. Part of me felt so great I could have run the last two in sub-10 minutes. My heart rate during this run was probably below 120, and I was barely breathing. I didn't feel a thing for the two-mile warm-down back to the track. Drove home real quick to stretch out, foam roll, and ice down. My legs felt great all day at work, even though I just ran 19 miles within a 12 hour time-frame.

I went out a little last night to celebrate the Laker win, so debated skipping my morning run. I re-programmed my alarm clock, but awoke at 6:15 by an email from Karen indicating she'd meet me in 15 minutes at Back Bay. I wanted to be back by 7 to watch U.S.A. soccer so I roll out of bed and within 10 minutes was out the door running. My legs felt AWESOME. No pain whatsoever, not even during the first few minutes warming up! I ran an easy 37 minutes/5 miles and felt great. I don't know how, but for some reason all the work and maintenance I've been doing just clicked, and I can really run again. I'm back!

Tomorrow is the Camp Pendleton Mud Run and I'm finally in great shape. Time to open up the legs and set a course PR.