One good thing is workouts are tapered back this week in anticipation of Saturday's Blacksburg Classic 10-Miler. I've been feeling great with 17 at marathon pace Saturday (unintentional pace, I swear) and a nice run yesterday where my heart rate from aerobic pace up through tempo stayed pretty steady and the short test of speed felt smooth.
Then last night I was sitting here at the computer and suddenly noticed pain in my outer hip! From what?! I skipped legs at the gym this week and even had some massage work. At my age (44 if you need a reminder) it could be from anything including pressing the space bar on my keyboard...or blinking....or existing. I don't know.
I've been popping some ibuprofen, stretching gently, and walking around in compression shorts so I can shove ice packs down the side. I wore them under nice pants at work today and looked like I had boxers on. Right now it's either feeling slightly better or I have gotten used to it. Whatever. I have no time or energy to fret.
Last year I missed out on the Blacksburg Classic -- it's the only non-5K road race in town and a big draw for local runners. I ran this race in 1:13.11 two years ago (race report) in an effort that still stands out in my mind as one of the times that I dug the deepest and pushed the hardest. I still recall the pain of that effort. It's hard to imagine equaling or surpassing that, and whether I do or I don't, I will be heading into the race prepared to dip into the well.
This will be my only "tuneup" race before Boston in 60 days and will hopefully give an indication of what I might be able to do there.
Did I mention that the race is at 1 pm and at 5 pm we have SIX 4th grade boys coming over for a sleepover birthday party?
Being an endurance athlete comes in handy.
