Long Run + Tempo with Jordan

Goal:
10 Miles, 5k tempo, 2 mile cooldown

Actual:
10 miles, 3 miles @ 17:31 (5:47, 5:58, 5:45), 1 mile cooldown, IT Band Messed up

Jordan worked out with me on Friday, worked out with John Compton, Richard Falcone, and Ben Hovis on Saturday, and decided it would be "fun" to work out with me as well. You can question his sanity, but I won't since his decisions are obviously benefiting me. We left my house and ran around Freedom Park, on the Booty Loop and back up to our favorite workout loop, the Dilworth Speed Loop. I was rocking my new Craft running tights and Gore head band that I bought from Jordan. Craft is definitely my new favorite brand for winter running gear. Their tights make me feel almost like I've got nothing on. Obviously, they provide that warmth, but the material is so smooth that it feels invisible on my skin. I'm a believer.

Anyways, there isn't much to report on the first 10 miles of our run as nothing really happened besides talking about training and increasing your VO2 Max for the marathon. Once we got to Rebecca's, Jordan stripped down to a t-shirt and shorts because the weather was so nice and I took off my gloves. We ran a lap and a half of the Dilworth speed loop. My goal was just to run 5:55-6:00 pace in an effort to simulate the final 5k of my half marathon in just 13 days.

Guess what? We went out too fast (5:47), but I felt relaxed and controlled. When my Garmin beeped, Jordan said, "Is that the mile?" I responded, "Apparently..." I thought he was doubting the Garmin's accuracy, but really he was just confirmed that we were running fast. He responded "We're ROLLING!" To further highlight our first mile, a rather attractive blonde took the time to roll down her window and cry out "nice pace!" to us. I figured we knew her. Jordan said we did not. She just thought Jordan was hot probably.

The second mile was mainly uphill, so we slowed down a bit to 5:58. There wasn't much to report except that I was thinking about how badly I wanted to run faster in the last mile. During the third mile, Jordan put on his personal trainer hat and spoke words of encouragement to keep me motivated to finish strong. He told me that we had four minutes left, two minutes left, and then told me to focus on objects like a fire hydrant. We finished up with a 5:45 and I bent over to catch my breath. I was shocked that we had run a pace close to the pace we ran just two days ago in the 3x2 mile workout on the same loop. After I regained my composure, we began the jaunt back to Rebecca's. It was exactly 1 mile there, and my entire body felt absolutely perfect. There was no pain in my knee, no (apparent) tightness in my IT Band or glute, and I felt strong.

Then I took one step down the stairs of Rebecca's porch and it felt like someone stabbed my in the outside of my left knee. As soon as my leg bent to a 45 degree angle, a stabbing sensation rocked through my leg and brought back the memories from two weeks ago in California. I said some profanity and exclaimed that I think I messed up my leg. I was not sure until I attempted three steps of jogging and could barely pick up my leg. I had to stop and, at my second attempt, I told Jordan that I did not think I could run home. He was a good sport and said he'd run to my house (2 Miles away) and come pick me. And so began the trek home...I walked about 3/4 of a mile, stopped every now and then to stretch my IT Band, and waited for Jordan on the street corner like an exhausted prostitute in running attire.

When Jordan picked me up, he had a bag of ice ready in the car and I thought to myself that I'm lucky to have such a nice friend (and training partner). Apparently when Meagan goes out of town, Jordan just likes to hang out with John and I so that he doesn't think about how much he misses her.

Now I'm sitting here icing and stretching. I'm confident that I'll be able to run tomorrow, but know that I will need to take off at least 3-5 days when I finish the Houston Half.