Monday: 10 min. erg warmup; arms/abs workout
Tuesday: accidental day off (also skipped pilates because teacher I don’t like was subbing)
Wednesday: a.m. 50 min. easy bike; p.m. easy 3 miles in the afternoon – accidentally done at goal half-marathon pace. Oops
Thursday: 6 mile tempo run: 1 mile warmup; 4 @ 8:15-8:20; 1 mile cooldown (splits: 7:54/7:54/8:07/8:36)
Friday: (skipped 2 miles easy – quads were SCREAMING) 55 min. moderate bike (high cadence; moderate resistance), stretch/foam roll
Saturday: total rest day
Sunday: 11 mile long run

My IT bands… oooh, my IT bands. It’s typically my left one. During the offseason, my left IT band was acting up so I bumped up the stretching, foam rolling and lower body strength training. I also took a few days off to let it rest up. All that, plus my very first professional massage, seemed to do the trick. Then the other week it starts acting up again. THEN on Wednesday, like an idiot, after skipping my Tuesday easy run on account of storms and general wussiness (I wanna sleeeeeep… I wanna sit on my aaaaass) I doubled-up workouts on the day before a tempo run and then ran my easy run too fast. Way too fast.

Thursday’s run… well, it hurt. Next time I’m bringing a gel and some water because I really could’ve used a boost during that last mile. That last mile is the result of many things: the aforementioned scheduling stupidity; taking the first two miles way too fast; the fact that it was redonkulously humid all of a sudden (I had been hydrating pretty well though so it could’ve been worse) and that the last mile had a couple really gnarly hills right at the end. Ugh. Oh, and the warmup mile was too fast, but isn’t it always?

I limped around my office on Thursday like an old person. Every time I stood up and sat down I was in agony. I stretched every time I got up to go to the bathroom. On Friday, no one was in the office but me, so besides enjoying my spinny chair (wheee) I also got up every 45 minutes to an hour to stretch against the wall since no one was there to look at me like I was a dork.

Sunday’s run was… rough. It was again absurdly humid, and I have the chafe marks to prove it. I went through all of my water, mostly from drinking and a little from dumping it down my back. It rained for a couple miles but then stopped, and for a while NB and I were practically praying it would open up and pour so it would put us out of our misery.

We were slooow. Very slow. It was an incredibly hilly 11 mile route and I bonked at least once. Mostly I was just crabby. I think it may have at least something to do with being undernourished carbohydrate-wise. I’ve been trying to fill up on quinoa and matza (ugh) but I need my morning oatmeal, and the occasional bagel. Not having oatmeal for breakfast everyday was pure torture, let me tell you.

I also stopped a couple times to try to stretch my quad and IT band. It wasn’t awful, just very very tight, and especially noticeable on all the hills, both up and down (of which there were plenty of both).

The IT band is feeling better today. I got up to stretch a lot and have been drinking my weight in water. I just dropped BANK at Dick’s Sporting Goods, including on a pair of compression shorts (which I’m wearing) and a foam roller. (Let me tell you, kids, I believe in compression: my feet and ankles were really sore after the run but after wearing my compression socks all day yesterday? No pain) I might ice it a bit tonight if there’s an opportunity.

This week is going to be pretty rough, so stay tuned. Track workout + Dean Karnazes 5K + 12 mile long run?

Bring it on.