*************************
Week 77
*************************
Two weeks to Club XC, and I’m happy that the ankle scare was nothing serious. But it did certainly curtail the week’s output. My anemic log of 23+ miles looks as such:
Sun: 0 (drove back from Arkansas…too tired by the time we arrived home)
Mon: 5.2 easy (working out the kinks after a long ride)
Tue: 4 w/3x0.5 trail loop (2:46,2:53,2:50) then I twisted my ankle, arrgh!
Wed: 0
Thur: 0
Fri: 4 easy + 10x9 stories of stair climbs.
Sat: 10 w/3.3 tempo on grass (6 total loops on the Masterson Station Course)
The trail loops were supposed to be a tune-up workout prior to the turkey trot, but just as I was going to start my 4th rep, I hit the root I knew was there, and down I went. Wednesday, the ankle was pretty tender, but I did a lot of massaging of the foot and calf, and by Thursday morning it actually felt a lot better--to the point where I almost considered racing. My better judgment held sway, however, after considering the possible risks of re-injury. By Friday, it really felt fine, but I opted to do a short run, couple with stair climbs, which I figured would do less pounding on the ankle. I’ve really learned to do the stairs in a way that is both symmetrical (both going up and coming back down) and non-twisting on the knee. I count an odd number of steps between each flight (5 up the flight, and 4 around the turn) so that every flight starts on alternating legs (note: 2 flights/story). Up the flight are smooth straight steps (2 at a time), then the key is to not rush the turns, and to turn the foot prior to landing so that my knee is straight with the foot as I start the next step while making the turn--this eliminates twisting at the knee.
If we don’t get any rain soon, the Club XC Championships will be on a fairly hard, firm course. We ran 6 loops of it on a brisk, 25-degree, Saturday morning. Still haven’t figured out what they plan to do about the start funnel, as the dog park has encroached on the previous one. We’ll see.
I hope you all have recovered from Thursday’s food coma. Any good Turkey Trot stories to tell? I helped at ours, and it was chaos handing out shirts and numbers for all the people that chose to show up with fewer than 30 minutes to spare, but it all went off pretty well....always a few glitches.
Cheers!