3/17/10

Wednesday’s Training – Am: ASU Track – 2 miles, 3 mins rec, 1 mile, 3 mins rec, 2*800m, 90 secs rec, 4*200m, 200m rec Pm: 57 mins easy

Mileage – 20 miles

Today was no fun at all. I woke up at 6am and headed downstairs to grab some coffee and a bagel. Julie’s dad was up as he heads to the gym early every morning so we chatted for a bit and then I headed upstairs to get my achilles ready for the session I had in front of me. I left the house at 7am and drove over to the ASU track where it was already getting warm and it was surprisingly windy. I had to sneak through a hole in the fence to get onto the track and jog 800m before I started stretching. I then headed out along the edge of Tempe town lake for a 20 min warm up. This was the point where my legs started to feel tired so I started to think about options if I needed to break down the workout (it was supposed to be a 4 mile tempo). I got on with my drills and strides and decided to just assess how I felt once I got going. As soon as I started I knew I would have to adapt the workout as I was just feeling groggy and almost sleepy. I stopped after the 2 miles and continued with a mile rep, 2 800s and some 200s to get my legs turning over. I warmed down slowly on the infield and stretched for a while before heading back to the house to rest up.

I didn’t manage to sleep at all but I lay in bed watching TV so at least I got some rest before we headed out for a St Patrick’s Day lunch. I actually had the corned beef and cabbage special and it was really good. Nothing like what corned beef is back home but it was still very tasty. After saying my goodbyes to Julie’s parents and brother I headed over to Tempe to grab another coffee and see Dr John Ball for another appointment. Roisen McGettigan (Top Irish steeplechaser) and Gary Reed (World 800m silver medallist) were also there getting some work done to them. John again mobilized my toe and made me really suffer by sticking his thumbs deep into my glutes to try and release the muscles that are trapping my sciatic nerves. After quite a few expletives and whinces, John said that he was really pleased with the way my injury has progressed and the improvement he is seeing is telling him that its not an achilles problem. That was great news because that can be a real problem and it takes a long time to heal.

After my appointment I headed straight up to Flagstaff and went straight out for my second run. I was feeling very stiff as I had just driven for 2 hours but after half an hour I felt fine. I got back to the house, shovelled some veggie burgers, broccoli and salad down my throat that Julie had prepared for me, and we then headed off to our marriage encounter sponsors, to talk with them about marriage issues. These meetings have been great for Julie and I as we have really opened up to each other and its forced us to talk about things that we would probably never would have. It has been tough at times but it has made us much closer and I think we both feel that can really take on anything that is thrown at us once we are married.