Solid.

It's going well. I'm thrilled to be back at it, getting my hands dirty.

Friday I ran half an hour. That run hurt. My allergies were horrible, and while my legs felt fine I could barely breathe. It became a balance of wimping out on the run and working extra hard to get in the full half hour....in the end I think I ran 25 minutes or so...and even though my legs never really felt it, I think I did all I could do that day. I hate when that happens.

Saturday I rode for 90 min, and did the orchard loop Trav took me on awhile ago. I love that ride! Though as I get stronger, I'm wishing it was longer...annyways. Rode that loop and felt great the whole time. When I was nearing home I realized my ride was going to be about 1:20, and I was deciding between throwing in an extra few miles with a little hill in it to round out or overshoot my 90 minute goal, or just call it a day. I called it a day. I wasn't very tired, and I really really wanted to keep riding my bike, but I know it's important that I don't gogogogoCRASH like I always do. I'm working really hard on pacing, be it time or speed or whatever. It's paying off, I can tell!

Sunday I took an unplanned day off. I was feeling really funky all morning, like lethargic and mopey and just really down, so I took the day off! Looking back, I think it was the right thing to do. Again, learning not to gogogoCRASH. Learning to PACE myself! :)

Monday I swam a mile in the morning, and that went well. 600 w/u pluss 3x400. I think I swam an extra 50 on the first 400, or else I was just SUPER tired, but the last two went well and I descended my times. I don't know if that means I'm not swimming hard enough at first or what (probably true)...Then in the evening I went on a great run! I hadn't run on the tready in a long time, and I just hopped on and busted out a 40 minute run, speeding up progressively. It was great--I never felt bad, nothing hurt, I felt like I could have run it a little faster but right now that's a good feeling to have after a workout...I definitely felt like I worked, though! 5 miles in 40 minutes, pretty good for where I'm at.

Today I rode an hour in the morning, which was okay. I rode up a slowly descending hill, and at a certain point my left knee started hurting every time I pushed into the pedal with that leg. It wasn't too bad at first but after a few minutes it definitely turned into 'turn around now before you mess something up!' pain. It even hurt while I descended, which I thought was weird, but by the time I got to the main road again it was a little better. Gonna get my bike fit looked at next week! Then it was a half hour run in the afternoon heat. I focused on finding a rhythm that felt comfortable, and sticking with it for the whole run. No worries about time, pace, distance, etc. Just running. And the run turned out great! I didn't overwork in the heat, and I never reached that 'I've blown up' point. I'm feeling really good about where my running's going. Not fast, but long, healthy, steady, strong.