I had my best run yet today! Not only is 7 miles still the longest distance I’ve run, but this was my third time running it and I cut 2 minutes, 20 seconds off my last 7 miles run.
I ran it with my usual running buddy, Maggie, and the miles flew by. I even had the energy to really push it at the end. Actually, at about 6.5 miles, my Garmin beeped to let me know it was running low on battery. I wasn’t sure how long that meant I had left with it, and I became worried that it would shut off before I finished my 7 miles! I knew I was on pace to have a good time, and wanting to record that time was the motivation I needed to speed it up at the end. That, and encouragement from Maggie 🙂 My splits:
- Mile 1: 10:20
- Mile 2: 10:33
- Mile 3: 10:31
- Mile 4: 10:11
- Mile 5: 10:08
- Mile 6: 10:00
- Mile 7: 9:38
- Total: 1:11:24 (10:12 average pace)
My knee (IT band) was causing problems last week, so I went to buy a foam roller last night. I bought it at a store called Academy, which generally has good prices on sports equipment. Imagine my surprise when I saw the price for a piece of foam – $20! I should never have thrown away the foam roller I had in grad school. If I wasn’t so convinced it would help, I would not have bought it. Or I would have taken the time to compare prices on Amazon.
I began foam rolling in grad school when I injured my IT band. At the time, my PT had me just using the roller on my IT band – lying on my side and rolling it on the side of my knees and hips. But Runner’s World has videos of other uses for the foam roller, and some of these felt really great after my long run. It did wonders for my recovery last time I injured my IT band, so I have high hopes for this time around!
Racing to Thirty 