On Saturday I couldn’t do 5k and had to walk during lengths of it, Monday my thighs were still soar because of my fast 1k and Tuesday was too humid to run.  Today I ran 6k at my new usual pace of 7 and a half minutes per km.  My calves didn’t seem to flare up or get annoying in terms of burning or cramps but my right leg did do that thing where it feels all fat and tingly.  It almost feels like blood is pooling in my foot and is trapped there and can’t recirculate back up to the rest of me.  I was thinking if that is the case I don’t think my calf muscle has swelled up at all and is trapping it, not really sure what is doing it or what can be done about it, if it is indeed the issue.  But yay 6k, I’m so sure I couldn’t have done that Saturday, bah.  There is a 5k coming up in Cambridge and the Run for the cure afterwards, I have raised 95$ so far, yay.

Today’s bus ride home was full of students and it is still 1-2 weeks early before they all come back to classes, I hope the buses can keep up with the demand because I don’t want to drive to work, and it would be nice to sit on the bus, I have got really use to reading on the bus, I think I only started maybe a month ago and I am a third of the way through the 4th game of thrones book, it is rather good, as everyone else in the world has already said.

I went out for a 5k today with high hopes that I could finish in 35 minutes but in actuality I was slow and had to stop and walk several times.  I gave myself a rest inbetween runs for a week but I still got winded very badly and the pain that occurred in my leg happened again today over and over again.  Last week I ran in 38 minutes, I think today it was closer to 45.  I haven’t been winded in a long time but it was hotter and more humid than it usually is when I run, also despite being slower overall I did run faster than usual.  The first km I ran was in 6 minutes which is about 2 minutes and 30 seconds faster than my average km, I never actually have run faster than 7 minutes before so I may have very well just ran out of gas.  From reading up online people talk about having an adrenaline surge and being pumped up by the crowd and feeding off the energy but I got none of that at all.  All I noticed was how much faster everyone else was, how near the end a 7 year old girl who was in front of me was able to just go and left my sight as I trailed behind, much like many of the other elderly that passed me or parents pushing there stroller ahead of themselves.  About halfway through my first km a guy was already heading back and passed me when he was at 3.5 km, I think he finished in 18 minutes but I am not discouraged by him since his legs looked like they belonged on a horse.

Meh, next time.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/deanomac-rocks/15022152141/

Not that I thought they would be easier to do, but I thought they would be a little easier to do, like maybe the last km be the most tiring where my muscles are very soar instead of the 2nd km where I still have 3+ to go.  I did it again though and I seemed to have been a lot more sweaty today, it just kept constantly getting in my eyes despite how much I tried to wipe away.  My right leg did it’s thing where it felt sort of tingly and sort of numb.  I did take a break for a minute to stretch out the stitch in my side and the numbness just went away.  I was wondering before if my leg was longer than the other and the constant pounding of it into the road was the cause but I guess not.  Not really sure how to prevent it in the future.

Yesterday Tom came over and his sister came by as well to play some Catan and Dominion, I think it was the 3rd time we used our kitchen table and first time for a game.  Really should do a house warming party at some point.

Had 2 days off again and a mini massage on my calf but it was again another hard run.  I think my pace was quicker at the beginning but not really, I got to the halfway point at the same pace I normally do.  I was a little quicker overall but I think that is due to me pushing it at the end, it only really shaved off seconds, I ran 7.37 per km which I guess breaks down to 38 minutes 5 seconds, it is getting better.  It was a tough run, not as bad as my last one, this one felt like I could do 30 minutes however it was tiring, not only on my calves but my thighs and with my stamina, it felt like I was going to run out of gas in the middle of it, if I had to turn my transitions were slow, I was slow, no runners high just a lot of feeling miserable through out.  I did run for 5.2km, so yay.

Going back to Game of thrones now

I ran 5k, barely.  While running I got 2 cramps in my side, they happened about a km apart at 2 and 3. Approaching the 4km mark my stomach was also grumbly and not happy, maybe from the tuna and chick pea juice.  My legs were burning as I approached the halfway point and both of my calves felt like they had enough, I was even feeling some back pain, not sure if it was from my posture.  In the end I was able to push through and finish it off.  I ran at 8minutes/km again which isn’t too bad based on everything and how crappy I felt.  For the last km it felt like my leg was buzzing and tingling.  It’s been 3 days since I last ran because of the rain yesterday but I was finally able to do back to back 5k runs.  I certainly didn’t feel a runner’s high or that I could keep on running forever, I just felt fire in my legs and the desire to just get it over with.

I had toastmasters today, it wasn’t bad, I forgot my humour speech in the car and had to do one off the top of my head up front.  I think I have mostly written a speech for next week, I hope it goes well.  It’s not good by any means but hopefully will be passable.  I finished reading the first Game of Thrones book today, it was really good and engaging.  The only story I didn’t care as much about was the dragon lady but I guess she’ll be integrated with the story better in the next book.  I should get to sleep.

In my mind it felt like a lot more time has passed.  Actually come to think of it I haven’t been thinking of my failure, just how much time has passed since my successful 5k run and how I have not been able to duplicate that feat. It has been 7 days.  Even today I feared that I would not be able to, my calf that has been the problem has continued to be a problem, it feels tight, unrelenting in letting me know that it exists through being uncomfortable and feeling like if I had to move suddenly it would make sure it gets torn in two probably leaving me in the middle of the road as a speeding car approaches.  I got it rubbed a bit and it seemed to have helped.  It seemed to have been more from having warm hands applied to it, so maybe a heat bag or a hot water bottle would help.  Afterwards I ran out and felt a lot better, my calves both ached a bit and it felt like if I pushed them too far or ran too quickly they would tighten up again leaving me with a long, lonely walk home.  As luck would have it I was able to duplicate my feat from 7 days ago and I ran 5k!  It feels good to know that I was able to do it again and it wasn’t just a one time fluke.  The last few days I have been a little worried and preoccupied with thoughts that I will be spending my next couple of weeks working on getting me back to a level where I can run 5k instead of focusing on taking me further, well more accurately faster.  I still want to get my 5k down to 35 minutes, perhaps even 30 minutes although I don’t have a time frame of when I want to accomplish that goal though, I don’t know what is realistic yet.  I did run about 15seconds/km faster than before, so it is a start.  I did my 5k in 39 minutes vs 40.

Work is going good, starting to get into a groove as it were there but there is so much to learn and unfortunately a lot of it has to be learned through time.  I’ll get there though.  I purchased a Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition player’s handbook and I am looking forward to playing it a bit, should be fun.  Oh well I want to shower now and read a bit more from Game of Thrones before going to sleep.

That was all I was able to do yesterday. Temperature seemed just right, my legs felt fine, I remembered to do my breathing beforehand, and just 1k. My left calf was feeling very tight and it seemed like I was going to get that weird tingling feeling in my leg when I decided to just pack it in. I am very disappointed since I was able to do 5k just 2 days ago. That gets me too, I had an extra rest day so I really shouldn’t have had any muscle or body issues, but I did.  I am now a little anxious about my planned upcoming run, I thought I would have some runs to see if I can get a little faster, but now maybe my runs will be focused on making sure I can run 5k and not give up a fifth of the way in. The only possible cause that I can think of outside of randomness is that I was pulling weeds on Saturday and some of the weeds I pulled required doing squats, but that did have a rest day after and I felt that more in my bum than legs, and I didn’t do very many at all.

Toastmasters was yesterday and I actually went this time, I have to prep a speech in a couple of weeks, at least this first one is an easy speech. I forgot my phone at work so I took an ebook to read this morning annnnd it needs a charge, so I brought a paperweight with me on my bus ride today. My bus was also a little late pulling into the station so I had to wait for the next bus which seems to have a few less seats sigh.

I kept running past my turnaround point determined to do 5k today, or at they very least set it up so I could do it and if I failed I wouldn’t be too far from home.  The run took me 2 seconds under 40 minutes which seems to be my pace if I run longer than the c25k app wants me to run.  Today it wanted me to do just 28 minutes.  Nothing from my run seemed faster than 7 minutes/km, I guess I will try 5k a few more times and see if I can speed up, it is weird though, it feels like I can still go/have life in my legs still.  There is a 5k in a few weeks time, I didn’t realize they charge $40 to participate a lot more than I was expecting.

I saw Guardians of the Galaxy yesterday, it was very good, it’s amazing how good that movie was considering the characters they have yet Warner Brothers can’t figure out how to make Wonder Woman work as a movie.