35 F / 1.6 C; 28 F / - 2.2 C windchill.
5.9 miles / 9.5 km. total; 5.1 miles / 8.2 km running.
I used the same route I ran on Wednesday. Most of the slush was gone, but dry patches were still few and far between. I mostly ran on a mixture of wet asphalt, compacted snow, and ice. There was a little more wind today, and so it felt just as cold or perhaps colder than Wednesday, even without the slush, and I kept my walking breaks brief. Most of the walking was done bringing my daughter back from kindergarten on the way back. I really should've put on the Moc3s at that point, but I thought my feet had warmed up sufficiently while inside the school getting her stuff and putting on her winter wraps. Now the end of my right 'index' toe is a bit painful. That's the same toe that gave me trouble last winter. It was well into spring, I think, before the slight pain had disappeared completely. I started to feel it on Thursday, so I guess I got a little frost nip on Wednesday's slush run, and then aggravated it a bit with today's continued moisture. I hope I haven't overdone it. I don't want to give Dama an excuse to give me more grief.
Tomorrow, Saturday, we're supposed to get a mix of rain, sleet, and snow, so I may finally buckle and don footwear for Sunday's run, but I'll do my best to stay bare for as long as possible. Today definitely felt like I was at the limit of my tolerances. Moisture kills! I could feel my mets stiffening up at one point. Hopefully there'll be drier conditions soon. I wasn't in any real discomfort at any point, but I am a bit anxious about harming my feet.
I was under the impression that I was running slightly faster than on my last run, but the Garmin indicates I was actually going a bit slower, at 9:20 pace. Still, that felt like a pretty good pace under the conditions, and my form felt good and my strides confident. I may stick to this route for a while and just work on getting the pace down. No sign of ITB strain, so that was a relief. I remembered to wear my knee braces, so perhaps that helped, or perhaps it was the strength training from the day before that helped support the knee, or may the ITBS is just going away by itself. In any case, I'm going to stick to the plan of only running at paces at which my form feels good, and right now that's right around 9mm or faster. I'll only up the distances when I can sustain that pace for longer, or when it becomes feasible again to take longer walking recovery breaks. It would be nice to get up to 7-8 miles again soon. Five miles doesn't feel quite long enough these days, although at these slightly faster paces, I do feel like I get a good workout, given my present level of conditioning.
Tomorrow is my shoulders, lats, neck, and forearm strength training day. It'll be good to give my lower body a rest after three straight days of working it.
Side note: The concerned looks on the faces of the parents at my daughter's school were priceless. I'm a really normal-looking guy, with no visible counter-cultural fashion accessories like earrings or tats or interesting hair. I came in wearing nondescript sweatpants & a hoodie, but I don't know if my middle-aged normality offset the weirdness of coming in to pick up my daughter barefoot in winter, or if the mismatch/incongruity make the scene all the weirder. On the walk home I put my daughter up on my shoulders so we could go quicker. I didn't want to walk bare at her pace. When I explained this to her, she asked why I didn't just put on my shoes. Shoes? Ridiculous! Wait a minute, . . . that actually makes sense
. Clever girl.
