A Nice Day

It's definitely winter in Texas, with a high around 70 degrees today. And tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. I waited until late afternoon and it paid off. I ran 5 miles in almost-perfect weather. I felt a little bark in my left hip, which means I need to keep at the exercises. I also walked for about 30 seconds in the last half-mile because of a catch in my right knee. Hopefully with a better diet and more self-control in the next few months, after the excesses of the holidays, some of these aches and pains will recede.

Christmas Eve Run

I missed Thursday, mainly due to laziness, but I knew today I needed to get out and run. I went 5 miles, with a couple of walks. I'm going to chalk those up to higher humidity since it was foggy and overcast most of the day, with a little run earlier. The temperature was nice, though. Christmas tomorrow in Texas is forecast to be in the low 70s. I love it!

Holiday Run

I'm off work all this week and went out today with a friend from church for a nice 3.5 (approx.) miler. He hasn't run in a few weeks so we took it nice and easy. The temperature was right at the freezing mark, but the sun was shining and the wind was almost nonexistent, making for a nice morning to run. The rest of the day is to be followed by a Lord of the Rings movie marathon, which is the only kind of marathon I've trained for this winter. I think I can make it to the finish line on this one without calf cramps. At least I hope I can.

Hobbled

Since my last run I've been paying closer attention to my left hip. I haven't run since the Thursday before last, but starting on Sunday I added my ankle weight routines into my workouts and the hip pain has departed. I tend to skip that piece of my workout when I don't have time, and it always comes back to bite me in the rear, or at least close to it. Today is Saturday and I did the ankle weights five times this past week, skipping only Thursday when I was traveling to Austin. By mid-week the pain was pretty much gone. Just goes to show I shouldn't skip those routines.

Today I got in 5 miles, with a couple of walking intervals, but not too bad. I also stopped for a minute or so on the big hill when I spotted a $5 bill in the leaves, and when I turned around it took a minute to find because the wind had blown it to the other side of the sidewalk. I've seen plenty of pennies on the ground, but this was a new one for me. Beyond that, the lack of hip pain was even better.

Coldness

The temperature here in north Texas has plummeted into the 30s, and today's run took place at about 36 degrees. I never had any doubt about running in it since I've run in much worse. In fact, I keep thinking about how a day like today would seem balmy back during my KC winters. There were times I would have been thrilled for the temperature to get above the freezing mark. Plus it's a good chance to keep the pace up. I ran for 6 miles and much the same as Tuesday made it into a tempo run after a mile of warmup. I didn't plug in the GPS to get my pace, but I would guess a little slower than the last one.

My left hip is sore this evening. Not sure what that's about, and I've done a little stretching and took some ibuprofen. We'll see how it feels tomorrow.

Getting Faster

Today's 5-miler in 49 degree weather went very well. I wore my new shoes, shorts, and long-sleeved technical t-shirt. I kicked up the pace from miles 2-4, which carried over some into the last mile as well. My overall pace was 9:19/mile, which apparently is the fastest I've run that distance since I got the new GPS. That tells me how long it's been since I've done any real speed work since I should have much faster times than that. With the cooler temperatures hopefully I can improve on that.

Slipped One In

I didn't think I was going to get in a run today. I woke up to rain and it stayed cloudy and misty/drizzling all day long. Finally in mid-afternoon the radar showed a break in the storm, so I ducked out of decorating for Christmas and managed a nice 6-miler. Apparently not many other people took advantage of the break as I saw one guy walking in the first half, a lady trailing behind about six or seven kids in the second half (they clearly weren't hers, but she was no doubt helping them with cabin fever), and a guy riding his bike with a mile to go. Otherwise the paths were clear of people but not necessarily water. I finished once again with a pace under ten minutes/mile. Nice.

Better Run

I think I had a slight muscle pull in my left quad last week, as mentioned before, but taking off Sunday and Monday before running later in the day Tuesday seems to have done the trick. I also slept better last night, and today's speed work felt more powerful and less restrained. I ran the 4-mile course again. Even though I'm not getting in the mileage as in times past, at least I'm getting in the intervals. I listened to the Man Cave Movie Podcast, which is usually pretty entertaining. This one was on Caddyshack, and I found myself smiling and even laughing out loud a couple of times. Hopefully anyone who noticed thought I was just having a good time.