4.25m With a Side of Ibuprofen

Week 2, Day 2: Track Workout

Yesterday was another track workout and another four miles of mind numbing circles. I only had one distractor with me instead of two, so I was able to focus better on what sequence I was on during my repeats. What I did discover was there are eight lanes on a track (I’m probably the only one who didn’t know that) and I had to repeat my sprints eight times. How convenient? Very convenient because I started my first one in the eighth lane and by my final sprint I was in the first lane. This helped me to not think so much and just run. Because I ran the track this way, my workout ended up being 4.25 miles instead of 4 miles which was fine by me. I finished in 48:22 with an 11:23 average pace.

Thank God I finished when I did because I was slowly being taken over by the high school cheerleaders starting their practice smelling like the Hawaiian Tropic oil they just sprayed on so they could “get a tan today.” Wow, did that smell bring back memories of my high school years!

Yesterday I was smart and armed myself by wearing my compression socks to help “wrap” my shins. Last week my shins talked trash to me the whole time I was sprinting and then for days after. This time, my shins felt better and I could focus on sprinting at 90%. I thought I’d done a good job until this morning when I woke up and my shoulders and neck hurt so bad I could hardly pick up my son. This shouldn’t have been such a surprise to me because I had focused so much on my shins and laps, I didn’t notice how I would tense my shoulders and neck when I was pushing through the sprints. Duh, I’d been so good about focusing on form and relaxing through my runs that I completely blew it yesterday and now I’m paying for it today. So, I started the day off with my normal breakfast, but added a side of ibuprofen.