5th Half in 5 days

My continuing coverage of a friend of the blog's journey in running 13 half marathons in 13 days. Here is day 5:

I ended up starting the 5th half marathon a bit behind my normal running schedule. Totally not a great thing to do :) Waking up at 11AM isn't a normal routine for me (at all!!!!) — but I'm guessing it had more to do with the house being really empty and quiet — and less with my body being tired from yesterday's run. I hope :)

After walking around a bit to feel how my legs were — I decided that today would be a challenge — just because I was starting my longer run — late in the day. I will have to see how tomorrow's run (6th half marathon) goes, because I usually like to run early in the morning — so I have a full day of recovery for the next morning run. With me running really late today — I'm hoping it doesn't affect tomorrow.

Before getting on the treadmill, I went about my normal routine of putting some IcyHot on the lower half of my legs (and the knee area) — really focusing on my calves — since they were pretty tender from the run the day before. Well...I ran out of my old IcyHot that I've had for a couple of years — and when I went to the store to get some more — the store was pretty wiped out of EVERYTHING. Not a shocker, since I live in a hub of many suburbs. Lots of people.

But, dude — how many people need Bengay and IcyHot?! Really???

I ended up buying two bins of IcyHot Balm. I've never used the "balm" version — I've only really known of the tube/cream sort. But for the price and the ounces — it was better to buy the "balm" then the small tubes of IcyHot (since it was all the store had of IcyHot)... so I bought it.

It's much more "solid" than the normal IcyHot — kind of like Chapstick — hard and waxy...so in order to get some out of the bottle you have to really "scrape" it out. Not the best for application — but it does smear well once you get it on your skin. However, I had compared ingredients of the balm vs. the cream while in the store — and according to the boxes, the IcyHot Balm was supposed to be a bit "less" intense.

Holy....MOLY....it SO wasn't. Either I had really "old" IcyHot cream before — or I put wayyyyyy too much of the IcyHot Balm on my legs; this stuff was INTENSE. So intense — that I thought my legs were on fire and that I was seriously going to have a burn on them.

Yeah. That bad. I ended up taking a paper towel with some water on it — and rubbing some of the excess IcyHot off my legs. It got a bit better — but I highly highly recommend to be very careful when applying IcyHot Balm to your sore muscles! Less is definitely more with the IcyHot Balm — word to the wise :)

After that — I hit the treadmill and finished my 5th half marathon in 5 days. I'm glad to say that it went REALLY really WELL! I'd say almost better than yesterday — except for the fact that it was pretty late in the day by the time I got done.

I iced and ate after I was done — and stretched my calves — but everything is feeling pretty darn good. I think I've found my gait now — and it's just going to be taking each day and each stride carefully and being aware what's going on with my body. Strange as that sounds — anyone who's a runner or who's been running a huge part of their life — knows that running and being self-aware of one's body — go hand in hand.

Only thing to note (besides the IcyHot Balm overload): my stomach has been a bit sensitive tonight after the run. Not in the Runner's Trots sense — but more in a food-overload sense. Because the run was so late in the day — my supper and quick meal after my run sort of *merged* as one — and this didn't settle very well for my runner's tummy. Usually I try to put a good hour or two between my run quick meal and a bigger meal (like supper) but tonight, I wasn't really able to do that. It's been a couple of hours now — and I feel much better — so that is just something to watch. Runner's tummy is a strange thing. Sometimes, I think I get it from the up/down jostling from running. Sometimes, I'm either really starving and hungry — or then just the opposite; thirsty and less hungry.

But another good half marathon — and now 65.5 miles stronger :) We'll see how tomorrow's run goes —with the short amount of time I have for a recovery. I am using a heating pad on my legs to help speed it up — so we'll hope for another run like today!!

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Great job Katirna. Thanks for sharing your icy balm experience. Always great to have insight into running treatments. 5 for 5, keep running strong Milly.