Woke this morning at 4:30 am, was on the road by 4:45 dressed in running shoes, sox, tights, long sleeved polly top, singlet, headband and poly gloves.
I have been dealing with a hip pain/strain the last few weeks, so today's run was to be a test run. My thoughts were to head out, if the pain came on then I would cut it short, or walk home if necessary. Yesterday, I swam after work and then had yoga class. Yoga seems to not aggravate the hip pain, but combining biking and running does....so haven't biked for 2 weeks. Also, the Saturday morning yoga class combines in some palates which strained it more. It has taken a long time to build up my running, at 52 when you loose it, it is not easy to regain that conditioning.
I typically run this 4.5 miles loop with a 5 min warmup walk and 5 min cooldown. Also, today I shortened the loop a bit by running a square route, rather than following the lake shore all of the way. This also cuts out one of the three large hills. Usually during the first 10 - 20 steps one can tell how much energy they will have, how good the run will be. I felt great, got thru the first mile, heart rate up, light sweat, the second mile the heart rate lowered, relax the arms, lower the shoulders and turn over the legs, let them roll as the early morning commuters head off to work passing by on the street.
This loop is the same that our annual town festival uses for their 8 K run, which they advertise as "the State's flattest 8K." The first major hill came, it starts slow, builds and steepens before peaking. This past winter I was injured for most of the months and have been very slowly building back up for all of 2008. The hills in this loop I always have walked this year, today, however, with the temp right at 50, and I felt very good. Breathing was easy, arms relaxed and low, heart rate down, legs strong, so I pressed into the hill, leaning forward a bit, lifting the knees, slowing some....reached the peak and relaxed into the downhill.....yeah !
This stretch is mostly dark, between streetlights. I have been using a headlamp and it works well. I keep it on for this half of the run as it goes in and out of darkness. Looking up.....bright stars are clearly visible as I run the sidewalk along the lakeshore. A few other hearty souls are out also.....the cop car I see each time out at this hour.... passes....I wave....never know when that wave will pay dividends... :-).
The next hill approaches, still feeling strong I leaned forward, lifting the knees, over the peak and down hill.....relax and keep the legs churning. The last stretch follows a major highway, altho on a sidewalk, still along the lake. Past the bar where the employees are arriving to open up........ and into town, past Holiday....past the City offices....lights on getting the polling booths ready "do we have enuf ballotts?"........no lines of voters yet.....past the church ...."thank you god for the ability to run...." two more blocks and stop to let a pickup truck cross, no need to see how well his brakes work....another two blocks and done, walk to cool down the last two blocks, gloves come off........the entire run was non-stop for first time in 2008....yeah ! And no hip pain.......It feels so good to be in good running shape, albeit lower mileage a very good feeling to be able to manage this loop without stops for walking, and at a decent pace. Shower, eat, off to the park n ride and bus it into the Big City for work....another day in paradise folks !
Enjoy your week !
6 months ago
