Finished!

My workouts for the week are done; whatever I do tomorrow will be a bonus.

Today was another cool morning, but I decided not to run with my dog because he'll need a bit of time to toughen up his paws; we'll run something tomorrow.  So, it was the treadmill this morning. and I decided to get the 75-80ish minute run of the week out of the way.  I haven't done a tempo workout this week, but the hilly run yesterday--or almost any steady run outside here--is pretty much a tempo run because the hills elevate heart rate and breathing rate solidly.

I was groggy again this morning, like every morning.   However, I've felt like I've turned a corner and started recovering this week.  The temperatures have dropped and we've been able to leave windows open for fresh air, plus I had a trainee at work for the last two weeks who has done some of the more strenuous stuff--hey, he's the one who has to develop endurance, not me! and I have been taking more bio-available iron/protein pills.  My easy treadmill pace is now 5.5-5.6 mph--it's funny how drastically 5.7 mph feels like a different gear.  I'm not pushing the pace on my easy runs because that's not the point, but now and then I try a slightly faster pace and test if it still allows me to relax.  Maybe by next month, 5.7 will feel easy.

Anyway, this morning, I took a while to wake up, but only about ten minutes or so to warm up, and I ran without issues until after an hour when I started getting a strange slow spasm in my left quad which momentarily threw my left knee out of alignment.  I tried to relax the offending area, and after several repetitions, the spasm went away, and I was able to complete the run.

And I have become stronger.  I did zwow #5 today, including the burpees that I'd forgotten last time, and I did over 4 sets.  When I started this workout, I was barely completing 3 in time.  It was a big push today, and I'm feeling pretty tired now, even post-nap!

More importantly, I can lift things up and put them down more easily.  There is a particular ortho kit at work that weighs at least 50 pounds, and lifting it is often not a clean or simple motion because the handles are on the short sides and it doesn't fit in the washer/autoclave sideways and the autoclave liner is inches away and scalding hot, etc, etc...but, yesterday, I was managing it fine.  When I first started working there, I could barely lift it off a table.