Sunday, February 21, 2010

Two runs in since Friday...

I had a REEEEEALY long week last week, and I had to work until midnight on Friday, which is why I didn't post about Friday's run.  So Friday morning comes and I knew that I was going to have a very long day, but I got up at 4:45am and dragged my butt up to the Y and did 2.25 miles.  My knees are giving me a bit of grief about the latest activities.  So I started looking up knee exercises to help ease the pains.  It turns out there are many many sites that will give you some good choices.  I had already upgraded the shoes, so there had to be some other things that I could do the help my knees.  One of the things the sites all talk about was running on short tracks, or tracks in general.  There is some extra stresses in running in circles on the knees.  So thy all said get off the track and start doing some road work.  Since I am past the run-walk-run stages of the C25K program, I did just that.

This morning I slept late, as yesterday was another long day at work.  Not the lovely 20 hour day I pulled on Friday, but since I only had 6 hours of sleep going into Saturday, I was a bit run down.  So I slept in.  I got up about 8 and then I got dressed in some slightly warmer clothing and hit the pavement.  I mapped out a course on the Nike +, or on the LiveStrong site.  For 2.5 miles it was a simple "around the neighborhood" jog this morning.  It has a couple of shallow hills and a good one at the end.  I "get" to run this one this week two more times.  Then I get to add a little bit more distance, and I will probably change the directions of where I go.  That way I can see more of the neighborhood in the dark.

Now, warmer clothing is needed at this time of year when going outdoors.  I have been a big fan of running tights for a very long time.  I know that some of my family members are going to question this statement.  But, when I was in high school, I had a pair of tights that I called my Spiderman tights.  They were Nikes that were red and blue, and the red was a mesh material.  They were awesome.  I wish someone still made some like that.  So, my current tights are dark blue and solid, but they will definitely keep the legs from being too cold, and keeps the legs from seizing up.

I also got a jacket to keep myself dry when it starts raining in two days, when next I get to the road, there will be moisture in the air.  I don't mind my legs being a little damp, but my back would be a bit cold if I got very wet, and that will end a run quick enough.  The new jacket happens to be a Livestrong Nike Fit jacket.  I will need to get a safety vest tomorrow, but the new jacket is bright blue and I carry a flashlight outside, I still want to have something that will reflect the lights of passing cars.

I have less than three weeks until the race, and the next ones are a short 11 weeks away from today.  I need to be very diligent with making sure that I get out the door everyday that I have a run scheduled.   Everyday that I skip is too precious to miss.  I do have the minimum number on the team, there are potentially more people signing up for it, but if they don't, I have met the minimum number.  The next two races are potentially 10Ks.  We will see how the legs and knees do in the coming weeks.

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