Shorts Weather

It was no longer "Sweater Weather" today.  Okay, that was a bad use of song humor.  It was "Shorts Weather" though.  I didn't know how long it would stay that way, so I ran even though I was unsure if I wanted to heading into the day.

I only had a day of rest, so the plan was a simple 2 miles.  I wanted somewhere soft, so I was going to run the Nor-Bath Trail.  I didn't eat lunch at 2 PM yet, so instead I ran at the Cementon Trailhead on the D&L.  That is closer to where I planned on eating in Northampton.  It is also usually nice and soft this time of year.

While I wore shorts, it was on the chilly side, so I was glad I threw on a jacket.  Also, some of the trail is blocked from the sun.  Still, it was a great sunny day out.  That's rare for a January run.  It really lifted my spirits too.

I started off nice and easy.  I was cruising along and feeling good.  I looked at my watch time and time again.  I was amazed that I had no stiffness in the lower leg.  I kept waiting and waiting and it didn't come.  I was thinking that maybe the soft, soggy surface was helping.  There was some left over snow here and there too and the occasional puddle.

I got to mile 1 and was amazed.  I still felt normal and felt absolutely nothing.  I started to begin to think that maybe I was over this problem.  I kept on going instead of turning back.  I continued on and was enjoying myself.  My pace was also well under 8 minutes and I wasn't working hard at all either.  I was thrilled.

Finally, as I approached mile 2, I could start to feel the tweak happening again.  I was disappointed, yet happy I made it significantly farther than last time out.  Maybe I'm slowly making progress.

Around 2.5 miles, it was getting quite tight.  Therefore, I went back to running on my toes.  That seems to relieve the soreness.  I can run a little longer then.  I strongly considered stopping at mile 3.  However, I would've have had to walk another mile back.  Since I was on my toes and it wasn't getting worse, I ran back.

I did a short out and back before I actually got to the parking lot.  That way I could walk back a bit and it wouldn't stiffen up in the car.  I finished up at mile 4.  I was a little sore, but not too bad.  One key will certainly be to continue to not push the limit more than my body will allow.  If I would've listened to my body early on with this problem, I might not be in the current situation.

I'm figuring that I'll probably have to start jumping on the bike now when a new week starts on Sunday.  I don't want to start losing fitness.  I'm hoping to get up tomorrow morning with the BCR group and see if I can run a couple miles.  I won't push it though, so I'll quit early and walk if I need to.  I'm also going to try wearing KT Tape.  I'm not sure if that will help.  At least things are getting a little better slowly.

4 miles - 30:58 (7:45 pace)