Ugh. Oof. Rrrgh.

That's the best description of how I feel right now. Something is going on here that I hope means I'm getting faster stronger better. I am soooo physically sore. Walking the first few steps after sitting is tough! My quads and hip flexors are saying "stop for a few seconds while they catch up with the rest of Glenn's body." The good news is there is no joint or tendon pain. I think I'm suffering from training load the past week. The soreness all started when I substituted a six mile run for a four mile run last Wednesday and then followed up with a 60 minute tempo on Thursday in place of a 45 minute tempo run. Ever since then, my first step is a little (OK - a lot) slower.

Now for the good news - I put in a 12 mile 3/1 run yesterday. My first couple of steps were slow as my quads rebelled, but once I got moving the run went fine. I threw in a little variety by going up the San Diego Creek trail instead of around the bay. The advantage of San Diego Creek is the lack of hills. There is steady elevation gain (obviously the stream needs to run downhill), but out to the six mile point, there is less than 100 feet in elevation gain. There are plenty of short hills though - each time the trail crosses a street it's down into an underpass and back up on the other side. Here's the elevation profile (I think the last blip just past mile 6 is a Garmin error - there is no 50 foot hill at that point):

As you can see - there are about 10 underpasses in the first six miles - Campus Dr., down into a drainage channel at Harvard, Michelson Dr., 405 freeway, Coronado, Main St., Alton, Harvard (again), Paseo Westpark, Culver Dr (2 of them) and West Yale Loop (can you tell I was bored on the way out?). There is just enough variety to make the run a little bit of a physical workout. And there are just enough cyclists to keep me awake. And, the other reason I like this trail is there are no cars to worry about!

Back to yesterday's run. Once I got moving, the miles started passing. I have to admit, the six miles out were quite boring. I never really got my heart rate at the top end of goal for a long run, but was running at a comfortable pace. At my turn around, I checked my watch. 1:05 to that point ( a little over six miles). Not bad! I started the long trek back to my starting point. At nine miles, I stepped up to half marathon pace and surprised myself by holding it for the next three miles! In fact, I remember thinking how my breathing didn't even really change for the first 2 miles of this segment (My heart rate did make it into the low 90% range by the time I finished up). Final stats - 12 miles (last 3 at HM pace), average heart rate 79% MHR. Total time 2:06 - seven minutes faster than I've ever gone this distance before.

One thing for sure - I will be taking it easy on my recovery runs this week. 11:00 here I come!