Thoughts from the "Road" - #2911

On the Seventh Day, God did an Easy 3

Today was my best run on the indoor track to date!

Since I logged so many miles on Monday I wasn't sure how long I would take to recover. The knee swelling went down more quickly than I expected and my plantar fascia wasn't too bad either. Typically for a recovery run, a day or so after my long run, I used to run an easy 3 miles.

I was a little vague as to what I should do for a recovery run since I have been running generally longer distances over all. The roads are all covered with really icy spots since another cold snap has set in so the indoor track was the best option.

Jim and I ran about an hour at the indoor track last week. I started out wondering if it was really worth going just to run 3 miles. As I sipped my morning tea I could hear the annoying gabbing and giggling of the guys in the apartment under ours. I knew I had to get out and pulled myself together in time for Jim to drive me.

The first few laps on the track were pretty slow because my left ankle was hurting. If it didn't feel better after a couple of miles I certainly had to limit my run to an easy 3. My first mile was at about an 11:15 pace (it's pretty cool to know the exact distance you have run).

After I did my second mile at a slow pace I was feeling pretty good and I thought I could probably run an hour or 6 miles again today. I had plenty to distract me with a group of sheriffs in training taking physical fitness exams. I shared the track with them as they ran sprints of a lap and a half which would have been 300 meters. The went off to do some sit-ups and push ups before coming back onto the track to run a final mile and a half en mass.

I could tell from when they started that I would be finishing about the same time as most of them would be. One really big man didn't make it more than a couple of laps before walking off and getting sick in a garbage can. Almost all of them were in a lot of pain and required ice after they were finished running. Sadly, I could tell the last run/walkers didn't make the times they needed to and were really disappointed.

I did a few cool down laps and stretched out before walking in the bitter cold for the bus. It was nice to know when it was going to be there so I wouldn't have to stand out in the cold for very long. The parking lot I cut across was pretty icy and I was really grateful to have had the option of a nice easy run indoors. I look forward to when I don't have to worry about ice and cold but today it all worked out.