Twin 5Ks

I’ve been feeling sheepish.

Until I got some sense knocked into me. (By myself…)

I’ve run a few 5Ks this month.

I know I’ve talked about how I can’t run the NYC Marathon…but I’m okay enough to run. To do strength training. To go to Soul Cycle, which I’m addicted to suddenly. I can pretty much do anything except yoga, strangely.

I know I made the right decision because my knee and IT band still bother me at times. The last few days have been worse than normal, which doesn’t make sense to me. Bending my leg and holding (like warrior or pigeon poses) bothers me. So do squats. But I still feel like people think I’m making it up (literally zero people have said that, but I SEE IT IN YOUR EYES) because, how can I do all this other stuff if I’m really injured?

Who freaking knows. Still, minor injury or not, trying to train for a marathon in less than 8 weeks is not ideal for me. I know how my body reacts to increases in volume and it’s no bueno. So I’m trying to come to terms with not running my favorite race this year. I’m not quite there yet, seeing as every time I hear or read about it I want to throw a temper tantrum.

Side note: I feel like this injury is connected to my diet in some way. When I eat certain foods it bothers me more…but I have zero evidence to back it up. I keep telling myself I’m going to track what I eat and see if I see a pattern, but yeahhh that hasn’t happened. I’ve been googling inflammation-causing foods. Have any of you ever looked into this? My body has been hating me in general lately so SOMETHING needs to change…I just don’t know what.

Back to running: there’s a bright side! I may not be able to run double-digits, but I’m so lucky to be able to run shorter distances.

A few weeks ago I ran the Jet to Jetty 5K in Playa del Rey. It was on a course I’ve run multiple times; there’s a lot of local races on this same exact course. And every single time I run it I spend the majority of the time cursing myself out. The scenery is beautiful, but we’re running directly in the sun so it’s hot and I can’t see and I sweat so much that my sunscreen constantly runs into my eyes and I spend the entire race wiping my face off and squinting and I HATE IT SO MUCH (#RunOnSentence). In this particular race, I went out too fast, faded in the second mile, tried to pick it up at the end, and basically hated life. Andddd that’s pretty much my entire recap of this race.

Jet to Jetty 5K: 27:24, average 8:50/mi

Mile 1: 8:15

Mile 2: 9:20

Mile 3: 8:59

Last .10=:47

And then, there was this 5K from this past weekend, the LA Kings 5K. Being a Rangers fan, I felt like a traitor. But I wanted a race to run so I sucked it up and didn’t clap AT ALL for the Kings players. (Okay, I gave a little golf clap so I didn’t look like a huge jerk. But I wasn’t happy about it.)

I arrived a little early, so after a mile warmup I headed to the starting line with plenty of time to spare. The announcer kept asking us to take selfies with the people around us, so I awkwardly tried to look SUPER busy on my phone so no one asked me. (I am so not fun. I know this.)

It was humid but cloudy so not too brutal. The first mile I felt great, but I started feeling really dehydrated around the first mile marker. I anxiously waited for the water stop around 1.5 and when I got there, I stopped to walk and chug some water. I felt a little better after the break and was thrilled to know there was a (very) slight downhill coming up.

I took in the gorgeous scenery and crossed the finish line with the EXACT SAME TIME as the last 5K I ran. I’m like a wizard or something.

LA Kings 5K: 27:24, average 8:50/mi

Mile 1: 8:34

Mile 2: 9:10

Mile 3: 8:52

last .12 = :47

(BTW are we noticing a trend here? AKA going out too fast?)

Afterwards I sprinted to the nearest coffee shop for iced coffee. (My favorite part of race day!)

So, that’s where I’m at now. Taking it one day at a time. Flying by the seat of my pants. Seeing where the wind takes me. I’m just one huge cliche.

What’s up with you? Tell me: Do you notice that certain foods mess with your recovery?