Sunday, November 16, 2014

A painful 6 mile run & the other half of the truth...

So I woke up this morning and had every intention of taking it easy and enjoying the 6 mile run with my running group...

The weather was awesome and the sunrise was absolutely beautiful...

One of the ladies from the 4:1 sub-group was going to try doing 5:1's today so I figured I would try also. Bad idea. My legs are still recovering from the half last week and my shins have been hurting since Friday, to the point where I had to wear these compression sleeves today...

The 5:1 group went out at a much faster pace than I was accustomed to and much faster than I should have been running during my recovery run. I'm not an elite runner with anything to prove so I'm not sure who I was kidding today...but my legs were not having it...
The shin splints were excruciatingly painful. I was tempted to stop all together, but instead I slowed down (drastically) and adjusted my intervals down to 2:1s...

Right before the 3 mile mark I saw one of the group members, Will, and he ran with me. Will is the superstar who ran the Ft. Lauderdale half the weekend after his NYC full marathon that I mentioned in last Tuesday's blog post. For the remainder of the run Will gave me tips and pointers about upcoming races and kept me distracted from the piercing pain in my lower legs. I was finally able to finish the 6+ miles, and although I'm not happy with my performance I'm glad I got it done...

Pacing breakdown pics...
(As you can see during miles 2 & 3 I really struggled)

Lesson from today: DO NOT TRY ANYTHING NEW DURING MY RECOVERY WEEK!!!!

I ended up spending more time than usual icing my shins after and lying in bed mentally lecturing myself about this morning's run. This upcoming week I will be smarter about my training...

I have to make some modifications to my training schedule moving forward. My 3am gym sessions (at the pool or doing cardio/weights) will no longer be feasible due to recent changes in circumstances...which kind of sucks and I'm sad about it, but I'm determined not to lose motivation throughout this period. I have worked really hard to get back on track after my injury, and I'm stronger than my circumstances so I refuse to be deterred or discouraged...

I'm not sure what my cross training will or should look like moving forward. I'll have to research different ideas for in-home cross training activities. I may end up doing a lot more Yoga and Pilates (and maybe even be able to stick with my 30 Day sit-up challenge that I have been neglecting recently). Training for Swim Miami will be harder now as well (because of less pool time) but hopefully I will be able to find some way to get everything done. As Fall weather starts turning into "Winter" weather in Florida in-door cross training will probably be my "go-to" option anyway.

How was your LR this weekend?
Have you ever had a long run gone wrong?
How do you deal with shin splints (if you get them)?

2 comments:

  1. Wonderful workouts, and beautiful words of wisdom! :)

    Shin splints: Haven't dealt with those since I got the right shoes!

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    1. Thanks Tiffany! I find that I get them when I try to do too much too soon or too much within a short period of time. Between blisters, lost toenails and a revolving door of injuries, I think I'm the poster child for "not a natural runner" but I'm running anyway and I'm still in love with running :) I just need to remember to pace myself and listen to my body.

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