After the Deluge

After the fun and challenge of Saturday's long and wet 15-miler, it was a return to the LA Roadrunners schedule for self-training.

One change I did was I took some Clif Shot Roks which are designed to aid recovery. I had the chocolate flavor, which was good. They come in a ball shape and are easy to bite, which was great after getting back from the run. This was the first time I used them. As with the gel, no stomach issues.

I was a bit "workout sore" but not as much as before and more in the area just above the knees rather than my whole quadriceps area. So, that was a bit of progress. Perhaps the recovery product helped with this as well?

Sunday I set out dark and early for a 30-minute run; but, the happiness of Servite winning gave a bit of a mental boost. I felt a bit of a twinge in my knee and it slowed me down. I did 2.36 miles at a 13:04 pace for 30:41. (I also did about three minutes of running where again I accidentally deactivated the Garmin 305; definitely it is not a good habit to have). It was not a great run and I was disappointed; but, I finished it and I actually had decent energy the rest of the day, which was busy. I really want to see how I react after the 16-miler and use of the Roks.

Monday was another run dark and early. I started out and did not feel like a maximum effort was coming. Still, I headed out and got three hills in, which was a plus. I also had to run a few small circles at lights, which hurt my pace times. On the other hand, my knee was a bit of a bother. The result of all of this was running for 45.1 minutes covering 3.87 miles at 11:21 pace. The good news is that is faster than the lactic pace I had been operating on; the bad news is I wanted to be at around 10:30.

I have noticed a few things though. One is my Monday runs seem consistently slower and the pace and feel gets better as the week continues. The second thing it takes about a mile or so for my knee to feel better; for some reason, it improves as I run. it is more of a bother when the leg is has not been active for a bit! Third, I am now running loner and earlier; I think I may need to start using gels or bloks on these runs. The side effect of that is I lose precious sleep time as the Clif Shot gel recommends using 15 minutes prior to starting and 45 minutes is relatively short.

Still, I am doing my best. I am hoping I can carry on and make this something special, completing the Los Angeles Marathon. It seems it may be a bit of tough route; but, may be that is the Servite way!