Bad runs are just not so easy to write about, I guess. That explains the delay here.
Got back from my nice, warm Florida vacation late Thursday night. Drive back was fun, although it was not nice to lose 15 degrees of air temperature per day. 75 in Florida, 50 in South Carolina, 35 in Virginia, 20’s in NY. Due to the blister on the back of my left foot, I decided to wear flip flops all the way back, including Thursday when it was freezing cold. I got some odd stares along the way, but didn’t care! On Friday, when I started wearing my sneakers again, the blister definitely felt uncomforable, so I’m glad I had the luxury of being able to wear the flip flops for the few days.
I was due to run my 2nd long run in training for the Austin Marathon, which is coming up quickly in 6 short weeks. We had friends coming over right in the middle of the day, both on Saturday and Sunday, so I could not carve out the 3+ hours required for the long run on those days. So, I had decided to do the long run on Friday. In hindsight that was a very bad decision!
First thing Friday morning, I went to Paragon to buy some new socks, and an outer jacket to keep me warm on long winter runs. I really wanted to go to JackRabbit so I could also get properly fitted for new shoes, but they don’t open until 11 on weekdays, and I couldn’t wait that long. I also picked up a strong bandaid to put over my blister. When I last had blister problems in Sept, I found that I had a hard time keeping the bandaid in place during a run. I bought Extra Large Tough-Strips Waterproof bandaids, which worked pretty well. Just placed it over the blister bandaid which was right on the blister. I also keep my left shoe a little loose, and it worked well – bandaids stayed on during run!
Otherwise, the run did not meet expectations at all. First of all, I overdressed. It was 32 degrees, cold but not freezing. Still, for some reason, I wore 3 shirts, and also the heavy outer jacket. I also felt completely out of sorts after eating a lot on vacation. I had gained 5 pounds on the trip, and could feel them all in my stomach with each step, or so it seemed.
Anyway, I bailed. Cut it short when I got to Williamsburg and took the L train home. Stopped at about 7.7 miles. Figured if I toughed it out, the run would be poor and then I’d be in bad shape for awhile. Instead, I resolved to run again on Saturday and Sunday, then get a good speed workout at the NYRR running class on Tuesday, and then get at least 1 more run in before the Fred Lebow race on Saturday morning. Hopefully some good short, fast workouts will work out the kinks, shed some pounds, and leave me in better condition to do the long runs. I realize that skipping this long run is risky, but I still have 2 other long runs on the calendar in addition to the Manhattan Half Marathon before the Austin Marathon on 2/15.
Anyway, we’ll see what happens. I was very discouraged by the aborted long run Friday, but was then encouraged by my strong shorter runs on both Saturday and Sunday. 6.2 miles on Sat at 9:16 pace, and 5.2 mile on Sun at 9:01 pace. That gave me runs on 3 consecutive days, which is a high water mark for me. I also went to the gym yesterday. Today is a rest day, and I look forward to a group speed workout tomorrow night in Central Park, although the forecast calls for snow/rain.
