Week 10: Run 1

Run 30 minutes

Run stats:
Distance: 2.71 miles
Pace: 11:05/mile

Run Review: @#!@&!!!!! That's what I was muttering under my breath pretty much every step of this run, plus the walk home. This was definitely the worst run ever. Was it the distance? I mean 30 minutes of running straight without walking can be intimidating... NOPE! That was the least of my problems.

My shins hurt SOOOO bad. They can typically be a little sore when we start up, but within 2 minutes, everything is usually warmed up. Not this time. They hurt THE WHOLE TIME!! In fact, the pain may have even gotten worse! I was so angry and frustrated. I want to run this 5K on Friday so bad. I ran through the pain, which was probably stupid of me, but I just want to keep running. I'm a PT, I should be telling myself to stop so I don't hurt myself worse, and have to take even more time off!

So what went wrong? Here's a list I made in my head while trying to distract myself from the horrendous pain:

1. Lack of ice for my shins over the weekend.
2. Lack of stretching my calves over several weeks.
3. Five+ hour car ride. We got back about 30 minutes before we went out for the run.
4. Fast food for lunch. We hadn't eaten anything all day, except from the drive-thru.
5. Inadequate water. Does Dr. Pepper count?
6. Christmas Treats.

I took an ice bath after the run because my entire right leg was painful (my hip as well as my shin). This helped to at least numb the pain. The worst part of the bath was getting in. After I was in about 30 seconds, though, the burning from the ice went away. I had to keep my toes out, though. They just can't handle that kind of cold for some reason.

My leg soreness (except my shin pain) is much better today, so the ice bath probably helped that. My shins were still really sore when I woke up. I iced them before I headed into work, and I managed to rub out most of the soreness using soft tissue mobilization techniques (boy were my shins lumpy!) I'm also planning on icing during lunch (with the ice massage technique) and when I get home tonight. I'm also gonna have J massage my calves, so they loosen up a bit (which I think will help my shins, too).

At this point, I'm still gun-ho about running the 5K on Friday. I hope to feel better during my run on Wednesday, so that I don't feel guilty about running my 5K. Regardless, I'll probably take it easy next week, and see if I can't get my shins to calm down a bit. I might also see if we can run on some better surfaces. Maybe concrete wasn't the BEST choice... :(

P.S. On a brighter note, we took some pictures of where we ran last Saturday, so I'll try to put those up while I'm icing my shins tonight!