Thanks for returning my legs......

So I have not had good running legs since sometime last year....Post Kona I think they were feeling good and I was going to lift my run fitness and add a lot of run volume. Well I sprained my ankle pretty badly and that sidelined me for a bit and significantly altered my gate and run. Just about the time that was healing enough to run consistently my hip flared up and I was sidelined for 5+ weeks.

The come back has NOT been fun. The struggle to get my fitness back was a daily battle. Running just was not fun. I slowly built back up and worked my way to consistent running pain free but my legs were just heavy. I linked it to fatigue from all the cycling, lack of run fitness etc. About 2 days before Oceanside they started to feel good- probably because I finally backed off a bit from all the volume. My run at O'side was pretty good but more importantly my legs felt good!

And since then they have felt great. Even recovering from the race and adding volume back they simply feel good. Running off the bike, on my long run! I am so thankful they are back. Not I just have to be careful and not overzealous and run them into injury in these final weeks of IM prep.

Survived the recovery week and thankfully with each day came longer rides and runs and by the weekend it was almost normal again. Sensational run on Sunday, very cool, but felt great and tackled Black Mountain! Definitely SG is not that hilly.

Finished off the run in time to come home to the kids searching for their final Easter Eggs. Teenagers are not too old for some Easter fun. I even stumped them on a few of the trickily hidden eggs. As for me, I was famished and decided the chocolate covered marshmallow bunnies were the best recovery food I could find. Quite satisfying I have to say. I ate an entire family.....I have been eating well during this final block of training...cut of the alcohol, most simple sugars and processed foods, trying to fuel with what my body can use. But on Easter....well that all went away. Bunnies, eggs, jelly beans.....all so delicious. Took a healthy eating sabbatical.

We had a smashing brunch at Mom and Billy's. D and K, the Dunkle/Braman's, some new friends of ours and a couple from Mom's club joined the day. As my mom said.." a great mix of the old and the young." We had a delicious breakfast and the brunch conversation was peppered with the topic of legalizing marijuana. Interesting perspectives from ages 13-76. From that point on, no matter what topic we settled on, somehow it came back to smoking dope! It was great fun and a nice afternoon.

The day was just getting nice so we decided to take Zen to dog beach. But as we are getting ready to go the house, ground and everything started to shake. Earthquake. This was not just a small rumble, it was a 7.2 and the epicenter was not all that far way. It was the longest and most jarring earthquake I have been in. Heart was racing and it even caused a small wave in the swimming pool. Definitely put us on edge. Nothing fell, no damage, but unnerving. Woke up at 4am to another one, smaller, but it was shaking us again.

Off to masters this AM and put my self in lane 2 again....tough workout- the workout itself was not all that hard, long though, but with little rest and working to keep up, I was baked when it was done. Standing in the hot showers thinking, really it's only Monday? Gotta love IM training.

Had to bail on the ride today, twice headed out for a short spin only to have it start raining. No thanks...just not worth it. So I test the running legs and they are thankfully still around!