Addicted to Exercise

Since the marathon I’ve just been doing some easy running.  I took a whole week off from it, and by the end of that I was itching to get back.  I probably overdid it a little bit.  I did some fours and sevens and a nine for my long run, and that all felt pretty good (except for the first day back, that is).  This past weekend, my ankles were bugging me, though.  I’ve also been running on the streets and sidewalks instead of taking the time to head to the trail, so that probably contributed as well.  I did 7.5 miles this morning, and the first 5 or so miles of that was the first time since the marathon where I actually felt graceful.  Then the end of the run didn’t feel so good.  I’ve got a massage scheduled for tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll be all fixed up after that.  I’ll decide how long of a long run to do after I see how much better I feel.

This morning I met the group for the traditional pre-race jog and stretching session.  I ran really slowly for about half an hour and then we stretched for a while.  Gilbert’s official instructions for me are to not worry about time and just have fun out there.  That recipe usually works, so that is the plan.

Today again I felt bad in the morning and slept in.  So, I ran again this evening.  I did the same thing as yesterday, 7.5 miles around here plus a couple strides.  My legs feel great.  Now I just need to get to where I can breathe normally and I’ll be all set.

This morning I had an early meeting plus I didn’t feel well, so I didn’t wake up really early to run.  However, I knew I needed to run, so I did it when I got home from work.  I just took off from my house and ran a 7.5 mile loop and threw in a couple strides at the end.  It felt pretty good.

I was feeling pretty sick for a couple days, and I didn’t go running Tuesday because of it.  I felt a lot better today, so I headed out for my easy run.  I did my 0 to 5 to 0 loop again, and I felt pretty good.  I wasn’t particularly fast, but that’s all right.  I finished with some strides, and those felt really good.  From there I went to the gym and got a pretty total body workout.  I’m still pushing fluids tonight, and hopefully I’ll be all fixed by tomorrow morning so I can go run fast again.

I still wasn’t feeling too great this morning, so it was probably good that I had an easy run to myself.  I did the seven mile loop plus the trip to and from the loop from Barton Springs.  I didn’t go particularly fast.  My legs felt all right, and my heart rate was low, but I had a hard time breathing.  I went from there to the gym for a little bit, and that went well.  Hopefully I’ll be feeling much better when I wake up in the morning.

This morning was the coldest day so far this season.  I met a couple of the others for an easy lap around Town Lake.  We started and stopped at Barton Springs, so it was a little under eight miles.  I felt good, and it was nice to have company.  It didn’t really feel that cold once we got moving.  I threw in a few strides at the end and then hit the gym.  It was amusing to see the extra crowds at the gym since it’s the start of a new year.

As it turned out, my legs were a little more tired after Saturday’s run than I thought they were.  I stuck to my plan and pushed through it, though.  Since I wasn’t going to run on Tuesday, I decided to run the seven-mile loop and then head over to AHS for some circuit and core work.  I could tell my legs were tired during my lap around Town Lake.  I ran slowly, and by the end some of my demons had caught up to me in my mind and I felt downright bad.  I still wandered over to AHS for the other workout, though.  I was early, so it was a while before people started showing up.  I joined a few of them for a couple warm-up laps.  Then when Gilbert arrived he sent us off to do our usual circuit training exercises with only one lap between each set.  I did like four sets of those and then a bunch of core.  The very last thing we did was the fast feet, and I was terrible at that as usual.  The final one was three minutes long, and I was barely moving at the end of it.  It was a good amount of exercise for the day, even if I didn’t feel good.  I’ll gather it all up and move on from there.

This morning I had some company for the easy run.  I met up with a few people who had run the Dallas Marathon recently, so that helped the pace relaxed.  We ran the seven mile loop at Town Lake from Barton Springs, so it was about eight miles in all.  I did a few strides at the end, and those felt really good.  From there I hit the gym for my usual stuff.  That all felt great!

This morning I did the Town Lake seven-mile loop from Barton Springs for about an eight-mile trip.  I made sure to keep it under control.  Last week was one of the hardest weeks of training I’ve ever done, and I was feeling it a little bit today.  Then again, maybe what I was feeling was not getting any sleep and/or the fact that it was below freezing outside.  Oh well, it’s what I do.

I went to the gym afterwards, and that got everything feeling pretty good, so I should be good to go again by morning.