Notes
I decided to try the coastal trail for this long run. It was a little slippery the first two miles, but doable. By mile 3, it was so bad (a poorly maintained ice rink) that I had to stop and walk over the icy parts and even then I was slipping. I went about another mile in (to 3.5 miles) before I gave up on it getting better and turned around. During this first 7 miles I rolled both my ankles (no lasting damage) and slipped back a few times, and my right glute (piriformis maybe?) was really twangy, so much so that I considered calling it done on the trail after 7 miles and either trying to get to a foam roller and TM right away at BR (I had clothes I could change into) or just pushing the long run to Sunday. When I got back to the car, I decided to just try stretching, ate some fruit chews and even tried using one of my extra shoes to dig into the muscle that was hurting to try to release it. (It didn't work, but the stretching helped a little). Decided to just grit it up and keep moving. I went out and back on the Chester Creek trail for the last 6. Whenever I could open up my stride and not look at my foot plant, I felt pretty good, but that was like 10% of the time at best. I tripped a couple times on ice ruts and just generally felt slow and shuffly and was just trying to get through it without injury. I really wish I had just done this on the track. My shoes don't have the grip or support left that I need, so it is definitely time for a new pair. As for the irritated glute (or piriformis), it is still pretty crank the next day. I sat on a tennis ball and rolled it out as best I could, and that did help. But I still feel it just walking around (day after). Will keep an eye on it. Might be time to just get out the wallet and go get ART at the new provider in ER. It is expensive b/c insurance doesn't cover a Chiro, but I think it might be the quickest route to getting these trouble spots taken care of.