More Miles, Less Pain

Just like that, January is half-way gone.

Quick update on my shoulder: after an unsuccessful month of PT and a clear MRI, one well placed cortisone shot did the trick. Granted, it also put my blood sugars through the roof for a week, but now I'm sleeping through the night again.

Speaking of blood sugars, I also received my latest A1c, which was 6.1. That's pretty darn good. I think I may have had a 6.1 1 or 2 other times, but that's close to my best ever.

Meanwhile, the miles add up, with 102.3 in the books for January and it's only the 14th. I expected to miss some time last week when I was in NYC, and while a few runs went a little short, I actually didn't miss a single day, which was nice.

Last weekend, I did my 2nd 5 hour run of this build, reaching up to 31.1 miles in 4:55, which was a nice tick faster than the last one. While the weather was a little better, I attribute much of the improvement to my new Hoka One One's.

If you're not familiar with Hokas, they are somewhat contrary to the minimalist thing that's going around. while they have a minimalist drop, it's all built on a very big, very light platform. The result? A very, very cushioned ride. I ordered a pair from Boulder Running Co last week and was thrilled they got here Friday night, just in time for my run on Saturday.

During this 5 hour run, I noticed a lot less fatigue in my legs. Granted, it wasn't gone, but heck, I'm a 41 year old man running for 5 years. I'd need to bathe in unicorn tears to not hurt some. But even so, what I really noticed was that I had a something left in my legs at the end, which is very rare for a long run. But you can see from my splits that when I was eager to get home in the last 4 miles, I knocked a good 30 seconds off my pace. In fact, my 28th mile tied for my fastest, which was impressive.



Thus far, it's fair to say I'm a fan of the Hokas.

Meanwhile, operation "eat real food when you run" is going well, too, with my go-to food being fig newtons. I spent the first half of the long run around 200 (this was the last day my steroid shot kept me elevated), before dipping down to 100 for the second half. And my stomach felt awesome, which would never be the case with 5 hours of gels. All of which goes to say I'm pleased how everything's going right now.

Comments

  1. Nice A1C! Way to go! And I'm glad the shoulder is feeling better. And AND I'm glad the food thing is going well for you too. I picture you heading out with two full sleeve of fig newtons tucked into your jersey pockets. Hehe!

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