Shamrock Prep!

Tomorrow is our first Shamrock Run and our second 5K. I'm pretty excited and of course I have some race goals, but first a recap of the week!

Monday:
3.94 miles (oops!)
10:37 min/mi

Wednesday:
2.85 miles
10:04 min/mi (oops, again!)

Friday:
3 miles
10:04 min/mi (not as big of an oops!)

For the past several weeks, instead of mapping our runs out before or after our runs, I had been using the (free) MapMyRun app on my iPhone to measure our running distance. At least I was until last Monday. When we finished our run, my phone said that we had completed 3.5 miles, which I was ok with. Later, when we returned home, I checked it out online, and it said that it was 3.36. I looked at the map and saw that it had skipped half a mile and had us swimming across the river. Hmm...something might not be working...

When I saw that, I mapped out our path manually and it said 3.94, or basically almost 4 miles! Oops! I wasn't sure I was ready to go that far yet, but luckily it turned out ok. No lingering pain or anything! No problem! We continued with ~3 miles for our remaining runs, and finished them at about 10 min/miles. Not bad, and no worse for the wear! I figured it would be best to keep the mileage low, what with a race on Sunday!

Speaking of which, tomorrow is race day! So, without further ado, race goals! For our first 5K, our main goal was to finish without walking. This time is different; we have a PR to beat! Therefore, our goal is to PR! Not too fancy, but we want to at least beat 29:16. I don't think we'll have a problem with it, although the whole second mile is a slight uphill which might hold us down a bit, but we're hoping for the best!

I'll post our results tomorrow, and I've got some additional news to share, so stay tuned!

Still holding on

So far so good. I successfully completed 3 runs last week, pain free!! We continued running along the grassy section of the Waterfront, to be safe, but upped our mileage to ~3 miles/run. Here’s a quick recap:

Monday
2.91 miles
10:52 min/mi

Tuesday
3.01 miles
11:28 min/mi (not sure about this one…outlier!)

Wednesday
3.15 miles
10:41 min/mi

As you can see, not only did the distance increase, but so did the pace! It didn’t even feel like I was pushing it too far or too fast, but I still tried to hold back, a little…kinda. I didn’t experience any calf cramping this week, but I did experience a tiny, itty-bitty bit of “sensitivity” in my shin yesterday during work, but before we even ran. It was weird. It didn’t hurt when I was weight bearing. It only hurt when I was sitting down. I hadn’t run since Wednesday (a day and a half previously), so it didn’t seem to be connected to my running. It wasn’t a full on “pain”, either, it was just a mini-ache. Weird. It didn’t bother me really at all during yesterday’s run. About halfway through I felt…something…in my shins, but it didn’t get any worse, and I don’t feel it today, so I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.

That’s what I’ve noticed. I’ve been benched for so long with this stupid self-inflicted injury, that I read into any little tweak as potential injury. I got shin splints from over-doing it and pushing through the pain for 2 weeks. I’m a very goal driven person. I was 2 weeks from finishing this 10-week-plan and 2 weeks from my very first official running race. I was so focused on finishing the ride, that I didn’t stop and take care of myself. It is infinitely more idiotic since I should know better. I mean I’m a PT for goodness sakes!

I am definitely going to try to be smarter now. Any real pain (“bad” pain) and it is an automatic 2 day rest and a prescription for ice. Random knee pain during the middle of the run that goes away after half-a-mile, yeah, not “bad” pain, just weird (random yesterday’s-run happenstance). I just need to be better about listening to my body, and not pushing myself beyond my own limits.

So, now that I have a plan…You (Who? J? I realize no one else is reading this. ;) may have noticed some additions to the race calendar. Next Sunday, is, of course, the Shamrock Run. Originally, I was planning on running the 8K race, increasing our distance, trying something new, but we all know I don’t have the base for that, so 5K it is!

One month after Shamrock, there is a local run that looks really fun. (aka Beer at the end, you will soon notice a trend!) Bridge to Brews can be either an 8K or a 10K. I will try to decide on the distance once I successfully complete the Shamrock run. Successful completion = Pain-free. Once that has been accomplished, we’ll sign up for our April race.

Yesterday, at dinner, J and I started eyeballing something a little bigger, and I’m not talking about our meal. I’m talking about a Half Marathon. Before my shin splint set-back, I had already been contemplating this possibility, with the same race actually. The Helvetia Half is scheduled in June. I found a 10 week plan (which I hope we can successfully complete) that would have us start our Half Marathon training on April 5th. The schedule seems do-able. (That’s what she said?) Of course it’s hard to estimate what will be or won’t be “do-able” in the future, but I really think we can do it. And worse case scenario, Helvetia Half is supposed to be a great marathon for walkers as well. And the Drop Top 10K is run right alongside the Half, and both races end with a nice brew (see!) and a burger. And to top it all off (enough with the “ands!”) Drop Top is our favorite beer! How could we not participate in some way!

Thus far, the half is still tentative. First and foremost, I have to be successful with the upcoming Shamrock 5K. Once that happens, we’ll start really planning on these races (i.e.. signing up!) Today we had our packet/shirt pick-up. (By signing up with a large team we each saved $5 on registration; WIN!) I’m really excited (and not just about the beer at the end! I <3 beer!)

Slow progress

Well, its been awhile. Ok, 1 week, but still, I've got some catching up to do...Let's see. Last I checked in was a week ago today, when I experienced only minimal pain during my run. Well I noticed on Tuesday that I had some lingering pain, so we took Wednesday off (which worked out ok, since we were fasting anyway) and started up again on Friday. Friday was even more pain-less than Monday. There may have been a few twinges, but overall, it was the least amount of pain I can remember having during a run. We managed 1.93 miles, at an unknown pace. (I forgot to stop my watch...Oops!) So, slowly, but surely I am upping the length of my runs!

The weather here has been amazing over the past week. There's been clear skies and it's been pretty warm (60° in February is warm!). It has been so nice, in fact, that trees have begun blossoming...It's only February guys! J and I took advantage of the weather on Saturday and went exploring further into Forest Park. There were a lot of people out enjoying the weather on the trails that day. It was kind of fun to people watch while climbing through the trees.

I completed my second relatively pain-free run today. I wouldn't say my calves/shins felt "painful", they just felt "tight". We've kept to the grass along the waterfront and today completed 2.20 miles at about a 12:00 min/mi pace. I've been purposely keeping it pretty slow to ease my lower legs into running again, hopefully a little better than I did before.

I've really been babying the lower legs after each run (and after the hike on Saturday). I start by going through my Yoga stretches. Since I've been having so much trouble with my shins, I have added some calf stretches to the end of this routine. I stretch 2x on each leg with a towel roll under my arch for at least 30 seconds. I stretch a little bit with the knee extended, but then focus on stretching with my knee bent as well. I am starting to believe that this muscle (namely the soleus muscle) is what has been giving me the most trouble. Since I've begun focusing on stretching this way, I've noticed a lot of improvement in pain. I've read out in the internet world that they believe the soleus is one of the muscles most culpable for shin splints, and thus far it appears to be the biggest troublemaker in my case.

The culprit. Soleus. Look at him, just sitting there behind the Gastroc all nonchalantly. "Who me?"


After I am all stretched out, I get the foam roller out and roll out my calves. I start by rolling on the back of each calve (one at a time) than turn my leg inward to roll out the innermost calf/shin, where I've had the most tightness and pain over the course of my injury.

After the foam roller, I rub out my shins (over the bone in front as well as the innermost portion) to try and keep my muscles from forming knots and causing pain. After all the torture, I reward my shins with ice (20 minutes for each leg). After the ice, I'm done. So far (you know...the last 4 days) it's been working pretty well for me. We'll see how my legs feel going into Wednesday's run. (I'm hoping I continue to be pain-free, and am able to complete the planned run!)

**After reading through all that, I notice that it may be easier to understand what I am doing if I post pictures vs. write out confusing directions. I'll try to have J take pics of my hot legs when I go through my routine next, so I can post them to lessen the confusing words...***

In other news, we have officially signed up for our second 5K, at the Shamrock Run! Originally, I had wanted to run the 8K, but since we haven't been able to up our mileage thus far, we're sticking with the 5K. Hopefully my legs continue to feel ok, and we can go for a PR! *Fingers crossed!*