Ugly Toes

Today was just one of those rough days. Currently, my right leg is giving me grief (previously, it was the left leg). My ITB was stiff/sore basically from the get-go today. I stopped at 5.5 miles to try and stretch it out, and I dropped my speed a notch when I got back on the treadmill. It was still tight when I made my second stop (to switch water bottles and take some ibuprofen) at 11 miles. I dropped my speed another notch, and it felt a little better for a little bit. But then my hamstrings (both legs) started getting tight. I made a stop at 18 miles to try and stretch them out. I got back onto the treadmill and my ITB was just too stiff to continue. I mean, I probably could've toughed it out but I don't think that would be good in the long run.

I think what I've learned is that I can't do a 10 mile hard run the day before and expect my leg to not complain. I probably should've iced my leg yesterday, too. (I have ice sitting on it right now). It's just kind of odd what will and won't bother my legs. My last 20 turned out really well, and I didn't think it would. I mean, I ran it on a Wednesday and had run 19.5 (which ended with me being really sore for a day) on the previous Saturday and 5 miles on both Monday and Tuesday. I had good hopes for today's run; I had been inspired reading that Richard ran 22 yesterday, and was kind of hoping I'd be able to pull off something similar.

But it's really okay that I cut things short; I know it probably sounds like I'm more disappointed than I am. I'm trying to learn to listen to my body and today it said to stop at 18. And I don't think 2 miles is going to make that much of a difference. I already have one 19.5 and one 20 in the bank, and another chance at it in 2 weeks. So it's all good for now.

My toes, on the other hand, are not so good. I mentioned my bruised toenail last weekend; I basically lost most of the nail this past week. I've also got some weird thing going on with the second toe on my right foot. I'll spare you all the details for once. Today I wore the same kind of socks I wore during Med-City (I think) and I don't think they are a good choice for my long runs. I should try some of my seamless socks and see if maybe my toes hurt less at the end.

The Engineer has one of the football games on, and a commercial for the big project he works on was just on. It was a complete WTF moment for me. I don't quite get who they think they were going to reach - this isn't a residential/consumer product and the chances of the (corporate) person in charge of buying such a thing watching football AND paying attention to the commercials are extremely slim. Besides, if they are that tech-y, they probably have a TiVo and set up a buffer so they can skip commercials :)

Oh, hey, and ITB sufferers out there: do you have a recommendation for where to buy one of those foam rollers? I know the kids' pool noodles are supposed to work, but I sincerely doubt I can find one of those in MN in the winter :) I'm thinking it might help to start rolling out my ITBs. The Engineer was rubbing my legs and he even commented on how tight they were and it almost hurt when he tried to work on them. I should probably also look into getting that massage I've been talking about for months.

treadmill | 18 miles | 2:48:42 | 9:22/mi.