No Excuses

Gorgeous weather this evening. Though as soon as I mentioned it to Meghan she replies, "So we can't use the heat as an excuse."

And she's right. I can't bitch and complain and say that I didn't run as well because it was to hot out. It really wasn't. There was even a nice breeze. And even though I was drenched in sweat by the end of it all, I never once thought it was too hot out. Thursday however may be another story. They're predicting another 100 degree day.  Meghan and I are going to try and meet at the same school Thursday for the =PR= track workout if it's not too disgusting out. If it is, I'll have an excuse.

As for today's run I think it went pretty average. 3 miles in 44:37. I probably could have done better but its definatly not bad. The training program said to go out for 45 minutes and increse your speed as you go along. I made a huge effort to increase my speed while I ran but that meant that I felt like I needed more walk breaks to compensate. So heres the ultimate question: Is it better to run slow and steady for longer periods of time? Or is it better to run shorter, faster bursts? Over all my pace worked out to be the same.

In other news, I think I finally know whats been causing my chronic knee pain. Its simply called "Runner's Knee" and its just an over use injury. CLICK HERE for an article on  it if you feel inclined to know more. My biggest symptoms are the pain when descending stairs or hills and the occasional popping or grinding. The funny thing is though, after I run the first mile or so, the pain goes away. My knee actually hurts more when I sit and try and rest it.  Of course it feels great now so I'm icing it as I write this and I guess we'll see if my muscles decide to help my poor knees out in the future. Until then, ice and a brace.