Sunday's Run

Heading towards the Pacific. The entrance to the bay, San Francisco side.

Aray! This is the Filipino version of "Ouch" or in the way I'm using it, "Mother[BLEEP]!". Whose legs are these? This ain't the pair I woke up with Sunday morning. That sweet, sweet pain I'm glad it's there but I'd like for it to cease long enough so I can hit the bathroom pain free.

So that's me today. Just the usual day after long run soreness. Earlier I was in a conference call and I had to dash to the bookshelf to access some material, almost lost it on the first few steps:)...physically and verbally. Oh man all this sitting around and the muscles get stiff all over again. My chair is super comfy too, I have one of those Herman Miller Aeron chairs. I actually hate profanity and I've managed to eliminate it entirely from my vocabulary but then I started doing ultras. Nothing says discomfort succintly like a few colorful words. It must really be January...building, building, building, then comes racing. During my high school years I got acquainted with the "No Pain No Gain", I still believe that, they just should have explained in further detail that there are good and bad types of pain. In ultra lingo, uncomfortable and really uncomfortable.

Yesterday I got up at 6AM, those who know me know this is half the battle - took 3 alarms. Left promptly at 7AM. It was chilly out but no rain and it warmed up quick. There wasn't a lot of people out which was strange, maybe the gloom and threat of more showers had most people staying under the covers. It was nice and quiet out. After the group ride yesterday it was nice having some alone time, even if it was just for a couple of hours. I was huffing faster than normal because I had to be at Golden Gate Park by 9AM, the last of our training runs for the San Francisco Half-Marathon next weekend. Thank God cause I've had it up to here with Golden Park. In fact I'm not running the race next week. I didn't lose the weight I wanted and I'm still slower than usual. Why pay money for what would essentially be another training run, which isn't long enough anyway and a route I've ran the last 4 weekends. No brainer.

Felt great up until mile 19 when my legs started to feel like lead, by mile 21 they were heavy and slow. Kept on pushing though and finished strong. I managed 25 miles on a course that's not all that hilly but moved at a decent pace. Now that I'm getting some of my distance back, gonna start layering the hill work. Track starts next week so I'll get to work on my speed as well.

Still suffering lingering effects from sickness from a couple of weeks ago. Symptoms are gone for the most part but it's still there. One sign was that my heart rate was too high for the different levels of effort I was producing. Well just got to grin and bear it I guess, do my best to rest and eat well. It's like recovering from an injury. Well now that the weekend is over I can get more sleep. No more rising early to workout.