Week 5 Day 5 of 10K Training

I've never really written about all the steps it takes for me to get out the door and start my long run. It's a very complicated process:

1. Go upstairs to put on running shorts, sports bra, and running singlet.
2. Pull hair into ponytail, slide on headband, clip the loose hairs up that fall out below the ponytail.
3. Put on deodorant.
4. Go downstairs with socks in hand.
5. Grab Vaseline, a paper towel, moleskin, and scissors, and grab sneakers from the hall.
6. Cut and attach moleskin to the pinky toes of each foot.
7. Smear Vaseline around all the toes on each foot. Wipe hands on paper towel.
8. Put on socks.
9. Put on shoes.
10. Smear Vaseline under the band of my sports bra to prevent chafing (or, should I say, MORE chafing).
11. Wash hand and fill water bottle half full of water.
12. Fill the rest of the space in the water bottle with Powerade.
13. Put water bottle in Fuel Belt, and add a paper towel and my cell phone.
14. Grab iPod, headphones, Nike +, and arm band.
15. Call to husband that I'm ready to leave, so he can drive me miles away from home and dump me in the middle of nowhere so I can run back.

I didn't list the steps in here of setting the alarm the night before so I have time to get up, drink and eat, go to the bathroom, and gear up so I actually get out of the house before noon. It's a miracle I ever actually make it out the door at all!

Today's run was excellent, excellent, excellent. I had to do 7 miles, so I go up and ate breakfast- I figured that was too far of a run to do without fuel. Justin drove me towards St. Albans/Fairfield today, and I ran home. I sought out a course that was mostly dirt, because this past week I had unintentionally run on almost exclusively pavement. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Perfect.

I warmed up with a 10 minute walk, then ran for 35 minutes. I took a 5 minute walk/drink break, then ran for 30 minutes. I took a 5 minute break, then ran until I was 5 minutes from the house, when I stopped to cool down. All in all my pace was about a 13 minute mile, which I'm very happy with, considering how much of my run was actually running, and the fact that 25 minutes of my workout were actually walking.

I darnk blue PowerAde today, and it was the 0 calorie kind. I guess it was fine. I didn't throw up, pass out, or crap myself, which is basically my definition of success.

I started out with a lot of pain in my feet. The bottoms hurt, and the inside of my left foot hurt. That muscle that runs along the top of my foot/ankle, that activates when I point my toe, was extremely painful and tight; this was the muscle that bothers me usually only when I run on the treadmill. My knees hurt a little too. By the middle of the run, though, all the kinks seemed to have worked themselves out, and I was feeling fairly smooth and comfortable.

I have noticed that every time I stop for a drink break, it is harder for me to start back up running again. My first few trotting steps are stiff and feel awkward, but then I get into a rhythm. It makes me not want to stop to drink, though I know I need to. It's almost like it take more energy to get going at running speed again than it would to have never taken a walk break in the first place.

Tomorrow is a well-deserved day of rest, and then next week is less mileage, though I do have a 5K race on Saturday. WOOT!