Mon: 7 miles easy
Tue: 8 miles plus 4 hill bursts
Wed: 10.5 miles steady
Thu: 7 miles on the treadmill (sub 6:40 avg @ 1.5% incline)
Fri: 10.5 miles steady
Sat: Off
Sun: Off
Total: 43 miles
This past week was going pretty well through Friday's run. My hips were giving me a little trouble, especially the right one, but it was nothing I couldn't manage and I was feeling pretty good about the way everything seemed to be progressing. Then came Friday's run. It was just terrible from top to bottom.
First of all, my legs felt like garbage, probably somewhat due to running on the stupid treadmill the night before. I should have just headed out in the cold, pouring rain, but I decided to be a wuss and stay indoors. It had been a while since I ran on a treadmill, so I felt uncoordinated as all get out on the thing, but the main problem I always have is cranking the pace down to a point where it's way too fast for a recovery day. I was down in the 6:20's for a good bit of it, and while it's fun to get strange looks from people walking by who have never seen a treadmill going that fast, it's not always productive from a training standpoint.
Anyway, back to Friday's run. Adding to the fun of my legs feeling like crap was a nice 20-30 mph steady wind with gusts of 40+, which feels really nice when it's under 30 degrees out. Needless to say, I was not having fun, but 30 minutes in I was surviving and starting to feel a little better when my day went from bad to worse. I was running a loop from my house that I've run a countless number of times with no problems whatsoever. There are several houses with dogs along the route, but with the exception of one place where I'm always prepared for a possible encounter, they're nothing to worry about, so as I heard one barking and coming towards me I thought nothing of it. Unfortunately I should have paid more attention because this was not the same all-bark-no-bite dog that normally comes out from this house.
Before I could really do anything, the thing came off the bank and bit my low calf, causing me to twist my leg and then go down on my hands and right knee. Needless to say, I was not happy. I hopped up and basically went after the dog, which looked like some sort of Beagle mix and would have probably gone 40-50 pounds, but I think he realized at that point that he was in trouble so he high-tailed it through a barbed wire fence and back towards his house.
I gathered myself and gave myself a look over, and that's when I got really mad. The stupid mutt had ripped 3 small holes in my $80 running pants (which in hindsight probably saved me from having his teeth go through my skin). I'm ok with getting thrown down, bitten, etc., but I am not cool with getting my pants ripped. I thought about going over to the house, but I didn't for several reasons. First of all, with the mood I was in at the time, it would have just been a VERY ugly confrontation. Second, I don't think anyone was home anyway, and third, I wanted to finish my run. So, after a nice boost of adrenaline, I headed on my way and finished off 10.5 miles, feeling ok for the most part.
After the endorphins and adrenaline wore off, however, things weren't quite so good. My knee had a knot on it and was scraped up and pretty sore. My hips were also worse than before. Based on all that, the rest of the week was off. I feel better today, but I still don't think everything is quite right and I probably won't run again tonight. I have an appointment with my chiropractor this evening and hope he can help speed the recovery process. If it's not one thing it's another with me. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever be able to get back to running at any sort of a decent level. I just can't seem to catch a break and I'm getting more and more frustrated and doing more and more questioning of whether or not it's all worth it. Maybe I'm just cursed.
In any event, that's the long and the short of my week. Hopefully this one will be much less eventful and go a whole lot better. Ten days to Christmas!
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