Running During Hockey Practice

Workout: 3 miles around the track, 9:19, 9:22, 9:17

I have a new addition to my running wardrobe: compression socks!

This company has been pimped to no end in the blog world, so I don't need to tell you what it's called. You know what it's called. I will tell you that I've been a big fan of compression gear since about a year ago when I bought some compression sleeves. When I was training for that marathon that I've decided isn't worth talking about so let's just leave it at "I got a stress fracture three weeks before the race and didn't do it," I found that wearing my compression sleeves while running made a huge difference in how my legs felt. I don't know that they made me recover faster or anything, but my legs were definitely less ache-y when I wore them. I also love how they feel-like little leg hugs!

My compression sleeves haven't totally been cutting it recently; I'm not sure if they're just stretched out or if my legs somehow shrank (doubtful), but they've started falling down a bit which made me think they probably aren't compressing that well. I've always wanted compression socks because I think sleeves look weird (something about the gap between your foot and the bottom of the sleeve really bothers me), so when I saw a pretty awesome deal on these I went for it. I have to say, I'm really happy about it so far. I love them. I don't think they've left my feet in three days, except to shower (can you shower in compression socks? Asking for a friend).

How do they look? Well, that's another thing. I honestly thought they were going to make my legs look pretty killer-long, lean, strong... you know, Heidi Klum legs. Well, turns out they don't do that. At all. What do they really do? They cut them off and make them look like sausages. Let's take a look!

That lighting does nothing for the cellulite I didn't know I had...

Well, I realized they look terrible on me before I started to run, which was really awesome because I then got to make my compression sock debut in front of the entire UAA hockey team. Yep. I usually run outside on Mondays but I was thinking I was going to only do 2 really easy miles today so decided to do it inside after class.

Let me tell you, running around an ice rink during hockey practice is terrifying. Not because of catcalls or anything, because I didn't get any, but because every thirty seconds or so a puck would smash into the wall right next to me. The first few times it scared the bejesus out of me and I was pretty close to ducking for cover. I sort of got used to it, but it meant I didn't get the chill, zoned out run I was hoping for. It also meant I ran faster than I wanted to. Oops.

Like I said, I was going to do two slow miles. Since I did my "long run" (I use that term very, very loosely) yesterday instead of Saturday, I was hoping to shuffle my runs a bit so they'd be well spaced-out but still have me doing my next "long run" on Saturday. It's all very confusing and complicated, don't worry about it. Point is, I was going for two miles. Well, I started running and I'm convinced those little shits were trying extra hard to shoot pucks at me, so I started running faster than I wanted and then decided, "What the hell, I feel good, I'll just do three miles today." It wasn't until I was driving home that I realized it was supposed to be 3.5. I seriously had a mini freak-out about that, because I'm a loser, but then I realized I can just make my Wednesday run a half mile longer. No biggie.

I felt really good on this run. I had zero shin pain despite having run yesterday, possibly because of my ugly compression socks, and even though I didn't do the run I was supposed to, I'm excited that I get to very, very slightly bump up my mileage this week.

The sky was pretty this morning.

View from work. Yes, it can be hard to focus.

That's it for today folks!