23 days and counting...up!

It has been 23 days since I finished Ironman Lake Placid (more to come on that later, as I'll add in some past race history to further chronicle my multisport journey).  While I have gone out on some other runs prior to today (read two or three), I haven't really felt like I was making my way back on the horse.

Seriously...when you look at this face in the mirror at 5:15 a.m., you don't feel inspired.

Well, regardless of how tired I looked, I still was up and ready to run.  I carefully put on my injinji toe socks (anyone that wears these knows that they must be put on carefully), slipped on my Newton Gravity running shoes, put on my Garmin FR60 and RoadID and out the door I went.

I wasn't sure of what I was in for today, I just knew that I wanted to run.  Since it was really my first day back, my plan was to take it easy - keep it in mid-Z2 the entire run.  It was pretty humid and I could feel my HR ticking up faster than I had hoped, so I did my best to just find my groove.

I did an out-and-back on the Norwottuck Rail Trail which isn't far from my house.  I don't have a GPS (want one) and I haven't put the foot pod back on because I'm still running with my Yankz!, so I was just running for time.  I picked a spot a little less than 20 minutes from home and made it my turnaround.  I negative split on the way back which made my HR spike somewhat, but still in Z2.  I ended the run feeling pretty good.

Well, imagine my surprise when I mapped my run and calculated the distance/pace/etc.  For a pseudo first day back, I'm feeling better than good.  Here are the stats: 4.5 miles in 36:36, which I calculate to be a 8:08/mile pace.

I felt so good that on my way into the office I called my buddy and scheduled in some speed work tomorrow.  Wish me luck!