That. Was. No. Joke.

Wow. 10 x 200 -- done. With moderate success.

But first, let me back up to earlier in the day. I had a follow-up appointment with my podiatrist who checked out my foot again and told me that, yes, I should have surgery. He doesn't like the fact that my toe has only about 10% of the mobility that it should have. Yeah, I don't like that too much, either. So, he recommends surgery. But, he's scheduling surgeries for December and January right now, which means that if I want to have the surgery this winter, I have to get on it.

Argh!

I have to give this a lot of thought. Right now, I'm leaning toward sucking it up for another year or so and considering the surgery for next winter. My orthotics are working well, keeping my legs and joints in line. They should slow the progression of my bunion so it might not get all that much worse over the next year. But, what if it does? I'd kick myself if I don't get the surgery this year and then end up hobbling around next spring/summer. Argh . . . such decisions!

OK, so that was the morning.

For my afternoon, I called upon my inner muthah runnah and ran the speediest speed I think I've ever run!

It was, as I wrote in my title, no joke. No joke!

I started with a nice warm-up and then sped up for a half mile. I recovered then sped up again for two 400s. They were all run slower than my target for the 200s and I think the gradual build up worked well for me.

After the two 400s, I broke it down and ran with focus, determination and -- most of all! -- speed. The first five weren't too bad. But, number six? Um, hmm . . . that one threw me off. I had to slow down at the end and I finished it in about :50 (rather than my target of :45). I was really bummed and my mind started to go into silly brain mode and think about how I was going to have to quit and that this was going to be yet another failure.

Fortunately -- or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it! -- I had to face the index card. As you may remember from last week, I just can't let an index card down. So I shook off the poor performance of the sixth repeat and got back to work.

I finished the next three repeats a bit slower than the first five, but I finished them strong, so I felt OK about it all. Then, I busted it for the last repeat and cooled down for a mile. Here's what my workout looked like:

1 mile @ 10:00
800 @ 4:00 w/400 rest
2 x 400 @ 2:00 w/400 rest
200s (w/200 rest):

• 1-5 - :44-:46 (yay!)
• 6 - :50 (boo!)
• 7-9 - :48 (eh.)
  
• 10 - :45 (yay!)

1 mile @ slooooooooow
Total: 6.25

Never have 6.25 miles made me feel so wiped out and yet so strong. It's true, I wanted to quit. Repeatedly. I kept thinking there was no way I could complete the workout, and yet I did it. I held on. I found a way to push through the dying feeling and get it done.

I was a foam rolling maniac last night and, today, my legs feel OK. Tired, but OK.

And now, this muthah runnah is off to be just mom. Have a great day!

~ Felice