Old I.T. Bands

Ed Whitlock continues to amaze, Mo to run London?, 13 year old girl guns for OT qualifier in Indy, Mo's shoes, analyzing Mo, and Boston Marathon registration pretty much filled up.

Monday, September 16th - ~3.5 miles.  Ran the Run for the Hills course with Crystal, Pat, and Craig.  The course lived up to its name as it's not very flat and pretty tricky in most parts.  Legs were complete garbage and my IT is a mess so hobbled through the entire run.  Walked a half mile or so to the car to finish it out.  ~8:30 pace overall

Tuesday, September 17th - 4 miles.  SLU track with Crystal and Craig.  My IT was a real mess, and considered doing workout but was quickly shot down since I could barely walk.  Jogged 1 mile warmup with Crystal and Craig on an overcast, spitting rain type of evening.  Leg was killing me, so ended up doing 3 miles easy on the grass infield while everyone finished up.  No idea of pace, but somewhere in the 8:15-8:30 range I am guessing.  TONS of stretching afterwards - my right leg feels like there is a steel rod inserted to the side, as I have 0 mobility right now because of the soreness.

Wednesday, September 18th - 12 miles (1 up, 3x3 miles at half marathon pace, 2 down).  The weather has taken a slight turn for the worse, as the temperature and humidity shot back up.  Hobbled around all morning, and spent most of the day stretching and finally got out to hit this workout at 10 p.m.  The trails were too dark, so decided to do on the roads.  My workout was 3 x 3 miles (6:25-6:30 pace), and after a quick warmup got right at it.  Well, I never really loosened up, and the pace felt more like 5K effort.  I ran through Glen Carbon and finished my first rep past the covered bridge.  The downhill last half mile pretty much salvaged the first rep, as I was already pooped at that point, sadly.  Pretty soaked from the humidity, and felt a lot more comfortable on the 2nd rep, which was pretty flat and actually passed a runner on the roads who was slaving away as I was.  I felt more in rhythm, but really struggled at the end.  My last rep was pretty much a death march - ran back through town and was pretty much dying and blew up on the last mile which sadly was also a little net downhill (ended up on 159 headed towards 270 - didn't want the uphill finish towards home, as I was hurting pretty bad at this point).  I tried to cheat, but it didn't work!  I never felt comfortable, and was a little discouraged when I was done but also very glad it was over.  2 mile cool down, 2 Gatorades, and massive amounts of stretching.  Splits were: 19:18 (6:24, 6:29, 6:24), 19:30 (6:30, 6:30, 6:30), 19:40 (6:30, 6:27, 6:43).

Lots of easy running the rest of this week, then have impromptu signed up for the Italian Fest 5K this weekend for fun.  One of my favorite races, and very flat and fast.  I've missed it the last few years because of conflicting travel, but I'll be here this year and the weather looks good.  Last race as a 33 year old!