Week 14:
This has seriously been the week of pain, specifically, calf pain. I thought that my new calf sleeves would be the answer to everything, but of course they were not magic. I don't think it's their fault, they're probably helping as much as they can. I just think that something is stressing out my legs, and it's resulting in lots of pain in my calves. The pain is worst in the morning, when I first get up. Then, even walking is painful. And it's at its worst when I'm going up/down stairs, and of course, when I'm running.
Tuesday, March 11th:
This was a pretty tough interval run, and I had to adjust it slightly to include some walk breaks. I still managed to complete all of my running intervals!
Thursday, March 13th:
This run should not have been tough, but it was. My calves have been so sore, that all of my runs have been extremely painful, from start to finish. This was basically a 5 mile easy run on the treadmill. I believe I kept the pace around 5.6-5.7 the entire time, since I couldn't go any faster through the pain.
Friday, March 14th:
For this run, I was supposed to do 3x2 miles - Joey suggested that for my warmup and first interval, I do a 3 mile run outside, and just rest and stretch after the first mile. That way I could take advantage of the beautiful weather. Then I would finish up inside on a treadmill. Even though I was in pain for most of the time, I managed to do the two mile interval pretty quickly. I came inside the gym, and could only force myself to do two sets of 1 mile at a time, at 6.0mph.
Sunday, March 16th:
I took the weekend off from running. Joey suggested that a few days off could help out my legs, and that I was far enough in my training that it wouldn't make a difference. Instead of running, we went down to the gym and did some strength and stretching. I did three times through of 10 pushups and 10 forward lunges per leg, then I stretched for a while. Then I did three times through of 1 min wall wit and 10 lat pull-downs, then I stretched some more. I ended with some crunches on the decline bench, with of course, more stretching!
Week Total:
Tuesday: 5.2 miles (treadmill)
Thursday: 5 miles (treadmill)
Friday: 5 miles (3 miles outside + 2 miles treadmill)
Weekly Total: 15.2 miles
Week 15:
Monday, March 17th:
To continue with the theme from Sunday, I did a strength workout that wouldn't cause more distress for my legs.
Tuesday, March 18th:
This was my first run in well over a week that wasn't painful the whole time, I can't even describe how relieved I was.
Thursday, March 20th:
This was another nice feeling run. The first half mile was a bit painful, but the rest was fine. I stepped off after the first mile to stretch, then got back into it. I increased the speed slightly with each mile, until I got to a 10 min/mile pace. The run was supposed to be a "tempo run," with a warmup and cool down sandwiching 4 miles at "marathon pace." Considering that first, my marathon pace is probably the same as my warmup/cooldown pace, and second, I can't stand going the same pace for miles at a time on the treadmill, I was much happier this way.
Saturday, March 22nd:
Today I had a great run. I planned on switching days, and doing a 6-7 mile run today, then doing a shorter run on Sunday, only if my legs felt up to it. I planned a run that could range from 6.15 to 7, depending on which ending I chose. Since I pushed the pace throughout the run, I chose the intermediate ending, which put me at 6.29 miles.
One thing that's strange with the tracking of the run - I walked a small portion of a giant hill, just because it felt silly to basically be running vertically. The watch definitely stopped for that portion, otherwise my pace would have been a lot slower. But when it shows a map of the course, there isn't a break in the red path. I stopped at the very bottom left of the map. I just thought it was strange that it connected the path.
Oh and obviously, you can see how gorgeous the weather was.
After I finished my run, I did a drive through and partial walk of the 10 miler course. It's in only 1 week!! I'm pretty familiar with most of the course, but I didn't know the downtown portion at all. That's the part I walked. I figured while I was out, I should drive through the rest of the course. So I started in front of JPJ, then drove the course in order. Once I got downtown, I parked where I could find a spot, and did the ~2 mile loop. I didn't realize at first that the street I parked on was the street where it started, so you can see where I had to backtrack a bit. There were definitely some ups and downs, and I'm glad that now I'll be at least a little familiar with this portion.
By the time I got home, my feet and legs were pretty tired, so I spent the rest of the night on the couch. As the night went on, my knees, especially my left knee, started to throb. I made a decision late Saturday night that if I was going to run at all on Sunday, it would just be at the gym, so I wouldn't be stuck somewhere if my legs really started to hurt. I ended up sleeping in pretty late, and although I didn't have any serious pain in my legs, I decided to stay off them the rest of the day.
Week Total:
Tuesday: 6 miles (treadmill)
Thursday: 5.5 miles (treadmill)
Saturday: 6.29 miles (outside)
Weekly Total: 17.79 miles
Some non-running notes:
Lately, my lunch hasn't been filling me up enough. I have my breakfast sandwich when I get in, then my oatmeal an hour or so later. At lunch, I've been so hungry that my sandwich alone doesn't cut it. I usually break into my trail mix right at lunch time, which leaves me starving, and without a snack, later in the day. The past week I've been bringing in raw veggies with light ranch dressing, and although I still have hunger pangs sometimes, it's been a lot better. I have issues with raw carrots and celery, which are the easiest raw veggies to snack on, so that makes it a bit more difficult. However, there are still tons of veggies left that taste good raw! I bought a big bag of cut broccoli florets, and Joey got a big bag of mini peppers. I also cut up a head of cauliflower. I've been using 1.5-2 tbsp of light ranch, which makes my total snack maybe 100-150 calories, but with tons of protein and fiber.
Also, I didn't mention above, but my run on 3/20 was pretty rushed. I was invited to a birthday party at the store anthropologie! That is seriously one of my favorite stores, but I can only afford to shop there every once in a while, and even then I can only buy one or two things at a time. I usually wait until my birthday, since I know I'll be getting my 15% off coupon from them. I hadn't been there yet this year to use my coupon, but I got an email from them last week, saying they were having a birthday party for all March babies, and would be providing cupcakes, macarons and cocktails! I wasn't sure if I really believed the email, but then I got a phone call telling me the same thing! I decided that I had to go! It was supposed to start at 6, and I didn't make it there until 7, even with rushing my run. I think I was expecting an actual party, with people mingling, so it wasn't quite that. It was more like an excuse to shop, with lots of snacks throughout the stores, and extremely attentive salespeople bringing you champagne cocktails. Definitely not a bad time, just not the opportunity to make friends I was hoping for. I bought a beautiful shirt - it makes me so happy!
I can't wait until I have an excuse to wear it. I think I could dress it up or down, although I tried tucking it in, and the material is so light that it doesn't work so well. I'll probably just wear it out, with nice jeans. I tried on a dress that was just beautiful on the mannequin, but thankfully didn't fit me all that well, since I have absolutely zero reasons to justify buying a dress that is $150+. I swear, I've looked online 3 times to find a picture of the dress, and either my memory is really bad, or you can't find it online!
Also exciting news - I have a conference in Toronto at the beginning of May, and Joey is going to meet me there so we can turn it into a mini vacation! I've never been to Canada, so I'm really looking forward to it. Anyone know of fun things to do in Toronto? We're planning on taking a day trip to Niagara, and hopefully Maid of the Mist will be open by then! Tentative opening is May 1st, but it's still TBD because of the harsh winter.
This has seriously been the week of pain, specifically, calf pain. I thought that my new calf sleeves would be the answer to everything, but of course they were not magic. I don't think it's their fault, they're probably helping as much as they can. I just think that something is stressing out my legs, and it's resulting in lots of pain in my calves. The pain is worst in the morning, when I first get up. Then, even walking is painful. And it's at its worst when I'm going up/down stairs, and of course, when I'm running.
Tuesday, March 11th:
This was a pretty tough interval run, and I had to adjust it slightly to include some walk breaks. I still managed to complete all of my running intervals!
Thursday, March 13th:
This run should not have been tough, but it was. My calves have been so sore, that all of my runs have been extremely painful, from start to finish. This was basically a 5 mile easy run on the treadmill. I believe I kept the pace around 5.6-5.7 the entire time, since I couldn't go any faster through the pain.
Friday, March 14th:
For this run, I was supposed to do 3x2 miles - Joey suggested that for my warmup and first interval, I do a 3 mile run outside, and just rest and stretch after the first mile. That way I could take advantage of the beautiful weather. Then I would finish up inside on a treadmill. Even though I was in pain for most of the time, I managed to do the two mile interval pretty quickly. I came inside the gym, and could only force myself to do two sets of 1 mile at a time, at 6.0mph.
Sunday, March 16th:
I took the weekend off from running. Joey suggested that a few days off could help out my legs, and that I was far enough in my training that it wouldn't make a difference. Instead of running, we went down to the gym and did some strength and stretching. I did three times through of 10 pushups and 10 forward lunges per leg, then I stretched for a while. Then I did three times through of 1 min wall wit and 10 lat pull-downs, then I stretched some more. I ended with some crunches on the decline bench, with of course, more stretching!
Week Total:
Tuesday: 5.2 miles (treadmill)
Thursday: 5 miles (treadmill)
Friday: 5 miles (3 miles outside + 2 miles treadmill)
Weekly Total: 15.2 miles
Week 15:
Monday, March 17th:
To continue with the theme from Sunday, I did a strength workout that wouldn't cause more distress for my legs.
This was my first run in well over a week that wasn't painful the whole time, I can't even describe how relieved I was.
Thursday, March 20th:
This was another nice feeling run. The first half mile was a bit painful, but the rest was fine. I stepped off after the first mile to stretch, then got back into it. I increased the speed slightly with each mile, until I got to a 10 min/mile pace. The run was supposed to be a "tempo run," with a warmup and cool down sandwiching 4 miles at "marathon pace." Considering that first, my marathon pace is probably the same as my warmup/cooldown pace, and second, I can't stand going the same pace for miles at a time on the treadmill, I was much happier this way.
Saturday, March 22nd:
Today I had a great run. I planned on switching days, and doing a 6-7 mile run today, then doing a shorter run on Sunday, only if my legs felt up to it. I planned a run that could range from 6.15 to 7, depending on which ending I chose. Since I pushed the pace throughout the run, I chose the intermediate ending, which put me at 6.29 miles.
One thing that's strange with the tracking of the run - I walked a small portion of a giant hill, just because it felt silly to basically be running vertically. The watch definitely stopped for that portion, otherwise my pace would have been a lot slower. But when it shows a map of the course, there isn't a break in the red path. I stopped at the very bottom left of the map. I just thought it was strange that it connected the path.
Oh and obviously, you can see how gorgeous the weather was.
After I finished my run, I did a drive through and partial walk of the 10 miler course. It's in only 1 week!! I'm pretty familiar with most of the course, but I didn't know the downtown portion at all. That's the part I walked. I figured while I was out, I should drive through the rest of the course. So I started in front of JPJ, then drove the course in order. Once I got downtown, I parked where I could find a spot, and did the ~2 mile loop. I didn't realize at first that the street I parked on was the street where it started, so you can see where I had to backtrack a bit. There were definitely some ups and downs, and I'm glad that now I'll be at least a little familiar with this portion.
By the time I got home, my feet and legs were pretty tired, so I spent the rest of the night on the couch. As the night went on, my knees, especially my left knee, started to throb. I made a decision late Saturday night that if I was going to run at all on Sunday, it would just be at the gym, so I wouldn't be stuck somewhere if my legs really started to hurt. I ended up sleeping in pretty late, and although I didn't have any serious pain in my legs, I decided to stay off them the rest of the day.
Week Total:
Tuesday: 6 miles (treadmill)
Thursday: 5.5 miles (treadmill)
Saturday: 6.29 miles (outside)
Weekly Total: 17.79 miles
Some non-running notes:
Lately, my lunch hasn't been filling me up enough. I have my breakfast sandwich when I get in, then my oatmeal an hour or so later. At lunch, I've been so hungry that my sandwich alone doesn't cut it. I usually break into my trail mix right at lunch time, which leaves me starving, and without a snack, later in the day. The past week I've been bringing in raw veggies with light ranch dressing, and although I still have hunger pangs sometimes, it's been a lot better. I have issues with raw carrots and celery, which are the easiest raw veggies to snack on, so that makes it a bit more difficult. However, there are still tons of veggies left that taste good raw! I bought a big bag of cut broccoli florets, and Joey got a big bag of mini peppers. I also cut up a head of cauliflower. I've been using 1.5-2 tbsp of light ranch, which makes my total snack maybe 100-150 calories, but with tons of protein and fiber.
Also, I didn't mention above, but my run on 3/20 was pretty rushed. I was invited to a birthday party at the store anthropologie! That is seriously one of my favorite stores, but I can only afford to shop there every once in a while, and even then I can only buy one or two things at a time. I usually wait until my birthday, since I know I'll be getting my 15% off coupon from them. I hadn't been there yet this year to use my coupon, but I got an email from them last week, saying they were having a birthday party for all March babies, and would be providing cupcakes, macarons and cocktails! I wasn't sure if I really believed the email, but then I got a phone call telling me the same thing! I decided that I had to go! It was supposed to start at 6, and I didn't make it there until 7, even with rushing my run. I think I was expecting an actual party, with people mingling, so it wasn't quite that. It was more like an excuse to shop, with lots of snacks throughout the stores, and extremely attentive salespeople bringing you champagne cocktails. Definitely not a bad time, just not the opportunity to make friends I was hoping for. I bought a beautiful shirt - it makes me so happy!
Also exciting news - I have a conference in Toronto at the beginning of May, and Joey is going to meet me there so we can turn it into a mini vacation! I've never been to Canada, so I'm really looking forward to it. Anyone know of fun things to do in Toronto? We're planning on taking a day trip to Niagara, and hopefully Maid of the Mist will be open by then! Tentative opening is May 1st, but it's still TBD because of the harsh winter.
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