Ker splat!

Or maybe just 'whomp' ! That was the sound of me hitting the ground midrun in the 13 miler today. I'm usually super careful on ice and snow but today I just got careless. It was time to turn around and head for home but a car was coming & in turning the other way from where I 1st intended to go my feet went straight out! Luckily the landing was evenly spread along my body and no damage was done but I still had 6-7 hard miles to go. Can count on one hand the number of times this has happened and feel lucky to emerge unscathed.

Todays run was a real 'workout' with some downhill repeats planned. There are not many days where I worry about my planned run but this was one of them. There was a 1/2 mile gully on the out portion of the run where I did a total of 4 x 1/4 mile downhills. Did these at a faster pace aiming for marathon speed but not quite there yet. I was thinking of doing a few more on my return leg but after the crash the plan changed to just do an extra mile further on and save it for another day. Also by this time the legs were starting to get sore, possibly from the 8 miler with 10xstrides on Monday.

Also by the end of the run I was reduced to counting over a few 'rough patches'. The detailed method is as follows. I don't count steps but rather focus on my breathing and count exhales which usually coincide with my right footstrike. I count 10 exhales and tic off one finger. Count 10 more exhales and another finger gets ticked off! Work my way up to all 10 fingers (still have them all intact) for a total of 100 exhales and then start over. Helps to focus on breathing and gives the brain something to work on as well. I also find that the pace usually picks up a bit and the form gets smoother.

Total for today was 13 miles in about 1:49. Tomorrow is and easy day, only 6 miles ;-)