One of the things I love, and hate, about running, and something that any runner will tell you, is that running forces you to deal with the down times as much as it rewards you with the good times. I have had my share of each in the past week or so.
After my triple hogback, with its accompanying fast mile, I rode a high for the next few days. The day after, I was quite naturally tired and took it crazily easy. Tuesday, I hit the trail again with the Tuesday Tempo Run, and went up Sanitas via Dakota Ridge and East Ridge in the same time as I had summited via the Sanitas trail during the Hogback run. I was pleased with myself after that run for having caught two other runners on the way up, and finished third out of the group.
Just the next day, I had a great day out with the Boulder Running Company Wednesday night Fun Run. We started out fairly slow, and gradually picked up the tempo until mile four, where two newbies decided to take off, dropping the pace to 6:15. Nobody in the front group was having any of that, however, and we quickly reeled them back in to finish the 5 1/4 mile loop in just under 36 minutes.
I figured that wasn't bad considering the tempo run of the previous day, and was again feeling pretty good.
Unfortunately, after that run I started to hit a low. I was getting twinges in my right heel that, as any runner will tell you, are the first sign of plantar fascitis. I took Thursday easy, and Friday and Saturday off. In the meantime I stretched my calves, took some anti-inflammatory meds, iced, and did a few other exercises.
The PF seemed to clear up pretty well, and by Sunday I was back on a (short) run again. It is not completely better yet, but it does seem to be headed that direction. I take it as a sign that it does not hurt in the morning, which is the worst time for most people with this condition. It hurts a bit at the moment, but that might be more understandable by the end of this post.
After taking Sunday and Monday pretty easy, Monday hitting the road with the Fleet Feet run, I decided to hit Sanitas again on Tuesday. I had had a very difficult, stressful day at work, and needed to let off some steam. So I decided to test myself on Sanitas, a route I had never really pushed before.
I took it out hard, even though my legs were not feeling great. Within seconds, I was breathing hard and feeling like my gut might explode. But I pushed through it (and occasionally had to brush by some of the more oblivious hikers), and made it to the top in 19:33, which from this point on will be my benchmark. This makes me yet more impressed with Kilian Jornet's 14:12 on this trail, and equally so with Rickey Gates's 14:28. Those two are impressive.
I eased down East Ridge, since my legs were still fatigued, and pushed it a bit down the valley to hit the lap in a 35:44. Not great, but not terrible either. And a good mar to try and beat later.
With that, I figured I would not be running all that quickly today, for the Wednesday night run . Nevertheless, I struck out with the lead group, there were four of us this week, down from seven the week before, and soon enough we were hitting 7:10, then 6:50, then 6:35 by mile 2. We kept a remarkably consistent 6:35 pace until the last mile, when we picked it up again, coming in to the 5 1/4 mark at 35:09, a full 40 seconds faster at a much more consistent pace than last week.
As I said, my PF is acting up just a bit tonight, a sure sign that tomorrow will be very easy, but with any luck it will keep getting better, just so long as I keep taking care of it.
Up, down, up, and down. Such is a runner's life.
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