Back to running!

I ran today for the first time in 10 days. I was resting my calf muscle, and it took alot of discipline not to run, but I made it. Ran 4 miles at lunch today, and it felt good. 8:15/mile easy running (no heart rate monitor today, on purpose). It was good to run again.

I didn't swim this morning because Paul let us sleep in, and I finally got some good sleep, so I took it while I could get it....I haven't been able to get to sleep most nights til about 1am, not sure what the deal is.

I left work at 5pm and thought "Today is the day I get a PR on the section of today's route that goes from the house to the top of Terry." Then I saw police cars at the bottom of the hill as I drove home, and they were making cars turnaround. But today was the day I was going to PR that hill, so I went up that way anyway. Turns out that there was a downed power line on the road over to Pocatello Creek Road, which is the I hill I do as the simulation for the Portland tri. I was still able to go up the hill, but I'd have to turn-around. I could deal with that, and I had a back up route in mind already.

So I kept cruising up the hill, pushing just a bit harder than normal, knowing I didn't have to the usual hill twice more and then come back over this hill. I made it up in 10:21, including about 20-30 seconds of talking to the police and then getting going again. I now KNOW I can get up that hill in less than 10 minutes!

From there, I cruised over American Road to get to Barton. I was going to do two loops of American Road to Alvin Ricken, but American Road is about the crappiest road to bike on I've ever been on. So, scratch that plan 500 yards into American Road. I then went up Barton (the hill I'll do tomorrow three or four times) and went home. I then thought about a three mile run, but I decided against it so I wouldn't overload my calf muscle that I've just spent 10 days recuperating.

All in all, I didn't get thwarted on this workout like I normally do for swim closures. I had a back-up plan in mind and did that, then went to another backup plan from there. I fulfilled my latest mantra of "consistent workouts of any quality are better than super quality workouts at random." I'm calling today a success.

Did four hours of yard work yesterday in the heat. Well, it was only 90 degrees, but that qualifies as heat right now. Pulled out almost all the ivy that overgrows and kills other plants. I really dislike ivy! Call me "Ivy Killer."