2/21-2/27

Sunday 2/21: DOUBLE DIGITS!!! 10 miles
-I decided to schedule todays run in the early evening as I ran 8 miles for two consecutive days (including 4- 5:30 miles in the middle of my 8 miler on friday evening). It payed off as I felt like my achilles was loose and ready to go after a 10 miler. I felt great cardio wise (although some of the nasty uphills on watkins mill road got to me on the way back on the out and back run). I ran 1:08 for 10 +. I averaged 6:40 pace which i am happy with considering its the longest run I have run since December 7th and also it felt great. The achilles got slightly tight around mile 9 but never actually hurt... I just could feel it get a little tight. I showered and put my foot in a bucket of ice water and all is great since!
Monday: 2/22: RAIN RUN! 8.5 miles
-After a good sales pitch by Karl, I decided to trek down from Gaithersburg to Bethesda for a run after school today. Actually, i was very happy to get a call from Karl, as I was not looking forward to running on the high traffic roads around here at that time of the day. We neandered around the surrounding neighborhoods at a relaxed pace. My achilles did not hurt nor was tight one bit today! I expected today to suck after running 10 yesterday. I am still going to continue all the measures possible to keep my achilles loose and healthy... Tomorrow I will run 6 miles. Next week, I am adding in striders into the game as well as a 25 minute tempo next wednesday with some striders after the first workout in ages!
Tuesday: 2/23: Kamakazi Run! 8 miles.
I met Chicken Tender Andy and Sloane for a proposed run on the rock creek trail beginning at Lake Needwood. We were frustrated to find out that the paved trail was still covered with almost a foot of snow! We decided to go through the trail a bit to see if it cleared up ahead but no such luck. We turned around and headed out to the opposite end of the Needwood park road... We turned around and headed up to Avery Rd which is the main road you access the park from. The road was narrow and the traffic was surprisingly high considering it was a narrow backroad. Cars flew by... they honked at us... A guy flipped us off... good times. We turned around after traveling about 20 minutes out on the road. The achilles felt great... I was originally going to hit only 6 today but felt fine so i ran with Andy and Chris the entire run. I will definitely go only 6 tomorrow as I can't get carried away... I ran 38 last week... I am on tuesday (3rd day of my running week and am at 26.5 miles!
"Slow down???....But it feels soooo good to go fast!!!"
Wednesday: 2/24: 6 miles
Ran a boring but effective 3 miles out and 3 miles back. I felt sluggish on the Watkins Mill Hills tonight but that is expected considering i have up'd my mileage. I pushed a bit on the way back on accident... I started thinking about racing... which I have problems with when it comes to training... I had a stressful day today as well... things in my life in the last few months have been obviously different... I am scheduled to move this weekend... so I have been really stressing about that this week with some financial things recently coming into mind through this whole ordeal... So, i guess running a bit hard in the final 2 miles was a way to let out some stress... but i am in no position to be doing that.... I should be more cautious with just coming back to running in the last 4 weeks.
Thursday: 2/25: Tour de Mont. Village. 6 miles
I ran aimlessly through Montgomery Village tonight. I was trying to avoid the hills tonite that i hit the last two days. I got to 18 minutes and had a strong twinge in my left gastroc (right in the meat of it). I got nervous that this was due to my achilles but after stopping to stretch and massage it out, it was much looser and I was able to run on it with minor muscle soreness. I will hit 5 tomorrow and will see how i am feeling on saturday (between 6-8).
Friday: 2/26:
Saturday: 2/27: