Blowing It Out

Wed AM- 3miles- 25min
Wed PM- 8 miles 3.5 w up, 3xsinai mile-5:47,5:28,5:11, 1.5 mi c dn

Hell Yeah! Okay, I am pretty sure that the third "mile" was my fastest one since fall 2002. Since the route is supposedly 1520 meters the 5:11 is worth a 5:27 mile. I am pretty excited. I wanted to do a mile repeat check in as it has been 5-6 weeks since I did one. I still am not fast enough to do mile repeats at my Jack Daniels Rep pace- as that is around 5:28 per mile and he does not advocate doing stuff at rep pace that last longer than a 5 min effort, but once in a while is not a big deal. Since I have no races, I do need to check in every now and then to see if I am advancing in my fitness with efforts like this.

I ran the first one comfortably hard, the second at a hard effort with noticeable breathing, and the third was probably a 90-95% effort. I was just glad that I was able to go faster than the 5:28 I did on the 2nd one. The 2min rest in between repeats was great, and after the first one it seemed like too much. 90 sec post the third repeat I checked my pulse and had 100bpm. That is very encouraging. My fitness is coming around.

The true test will be tomorrow morning when I try to run. 5 weeks ago similar mile reps really banged me up: stiff/sore/ achy, and set off the incredibly tight calves thing I have had problems with for 15 years. Hopefully I won't have that now.

I am ailing a bit though. My right foot is having pain in the 2nd metatarsal/ball of my foot v. neuroma between 2nd and 3rd mets. I had this in April 2006 and it faded in 2 weeks. It popped up last week and I am linking it to a type of shoe with a specific insole. (I am constantly switching my shoes and insoles up)....it is good for the feet/body to have variety. But, the ones with the metatarsal pad in the shoe with the narrow toe box is a bad combo. I am icing and I hope that will make it go away quickly. I also doctored my main orthotic insoles so I'll check it tomorrow and continue to tweak it as needed.