TransTo4: 1-3

3 miles in 25:36 (8:32/mile)

So I was a bad monkey today. I've had 2 miles on the books for this first '4th' day for months. I suppose it says something good about my fitness level and my confidence in that level of fitness, that my first reaction as I was getting my gear together was: '2 miles? Really? That's hardly worth the time to suit up, run, and shower.' So I managed to talk myself into violating the 10% rule and adding going from 12.2 miles last week to 14 miles this week.

I know I'm being obsessing, and I'm sure it won't cause any irreparable harm, but if I have problems in a few weeks, I'm blaming the extra mile, and/or the fact that I pushed a lot harder than I should have. :)

I finished with a little bit of shin pain, but that seems to feel better when I do a more 'mid-foot' stride, so there may be an opportunity to improve my technique here.

Other good things; speed felt really good. I was pretty much done at the end, but it was a good reminder of what really pushing feels like. My abs were fully involved in the running, and I had to drop into a 2-2 (inhale-exhale) for most of the run. Something I don't remember doing during the 10K. Also, I was able to start out much faster than in the last couple of days, and not feel horrible. Some of that may be that it was 60 out instead of 50. Or it could be that I told my legs to sod off and get with the program. :)

I needed to know that I could get off the line a little faster, especially thinking about Beat the Bridge on Sunday. It is literally that. They raise one of the bridges on Eastlake Ave. 20 minutes after my wave starts. The bridge is 2 miles, or a tick further, away from the start. So obviously if you're not quick enough, you have to wait a few minutes at the bridge. We'll see. They just closed online registration, so we'll see if I can get Kaitlyn into it, but they do a Diaper Derby after the adults run, so that will be fun if we can get her in. :)

Mid month weigh in went well; down to 175-176. But I've been really hungry the last few days, and haven't had a lot of energy in the evenings for the last few weeks. Don't know if either one is food related or stress/depression/emotional related. I'll be eating close to normally the next two days before the race, so we'll see if it makes any sort of difference.