Running Chick

Another week in the bag. This is what, week 6? I can’t remember and I’m too lazy to check the calendar.

My Saturday morning long run of eight miles was much better that last week’s seven. I didn’t get run over, I felt decent and thanks to Lady Gaga, Radiohead, Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry and Mumford and Sons my head stayed in the game. I don’t typically run with music because I like to hear what’s going on around me, but after my mental breakdown last week, I thought it might help. And it did, too. Around the five mile mark when the first negative thoughts popped into my head, I cranked up the volume on my Shuffle and let Lady Gaga tell me all about how she wanted to go ride around on somebody’s disco stick and was able to keep the negativity away.  Such a poet she is, that Gaga.

My runs were a little bit slower this week than last:  4 miles @ 10:18 (hill training), 3 miles @ 10:15 (shin meltdown) and 8.15 miles @ 10:40 (long) for a total of 15.15 miles @ 10:29.

I tried a new product on Saturday, Nuun active hydration tablets.  I typically fill my flasks with a Gatorade (orange)/water mix, but when I was rummaging around in my running box on Friday night to find a gel, I came across a Nuun single-tablet packet that I bought last summer but never used. I wasn’t planning on taking anything but water in my flasks because I forgot to pick up Gatorade, so I was happy to find that little tablet.  On Saturday morning, I filled up a measuring cup with 16 oz. of water and dropped the tablet in and it fizzed it’s way to life, just like Alka Seltzer.  I drank one flask on my run (maybe a little bit from the second flask), and I thought it tasted pretty yummy, way better than my watered down Gatorade and definitely less sweet. It was slightly fizzy, which was a little bizarre & off-putting at first, but after my second water break I didn’t really notice it. The best thing is I didn’t suffer from any post-run stomach issues with the Nuun, like I do when I use Gatorade. I’m certain it’s because Nuun is sugar free. I think I’ve found my new hydration product.

And, finally, the shin report. I had more discomfort that I’m comfortable with during my eight mile run on Saturday and I’ve decided that in order to not let them get any more out of hand, I’m going to take next week off. My schedule called for two four mile and one nine mile run and I don’t think there was any way between today and my next run that they were going to settle down enough, so it’s going to be a week of trainer rides for me.  I don’t really mind riding my trainer, but it does get a bit boring after 30 minutes (my longest ride has been an hour).  I’m going to try and do 90 minutes on Saturday to make up for my long run and I’m already worried that I’m going to be bored to tears. I know people who ride their trainer for four or five hours! How they do that without going bonkers is beyond me.

I also ordered The Injured Runner dvd which I should get on Tuesday. It looked like it had some pretty useful exercises for the typical injuries it seems like I’m always getting and thanks to a discount coupon, I was able to get it for around $15 with free 2-day shipping from runningwarehouse.com. I’m hoping it helps.

Somebody stop me, I do dumb things.

I’ve been feeling a little discomfort in my shins lately, nothing major and completely kept under control by icing & Advil, but it’s there. The other day I got to thinking that maybe I should try my custom orthotics on a run just to see how my legs feel. So, I did.  Now, this wasn’t necessarily a dumb idea per se, but completely ignoring that these custom orthotics gave me such bad knee pain that they knocked me out of consistent running for almost a year, was stupid.

The first mile of my four mile run was kind of promising. No shin pain, no other issues. The next quarter mile, my shins started to ache and by a half mile they were pissed off. I stopped, stretched for a bit and took off again, but I didn’t get too far and had to stop again. I thought about walking back to my house, but decided to take out the insoles and see how that went. The pain went away by probably 50%, and I considered finishing my full run, but for once, I listened to what my body was telling me and ended with three.

I’ve been icing both shins for 20-30 minutes every 1-1/2 to 2 hours and I think I’d downgrade them from pissed off to aggravated. Fingers crossed that they’re okay for my long run on Saturday.

Anyhoo, I decided that I need to add some hill training to my regime so on Tuesday, I sent out to do four miles of hills. I wasn’t interested in doing sprint repeats, I wanted some mid-length upward grinds with some downhill recovery and I found my perfect loop on Jacker Avenue.

The loop (square, more like) is about .8 of a mile long, the first .4 mile (starting at the corner of Jacker & Military) is uphill, the next .2 is flat and the last .2 is downhill.  I did about a mile warm-up and then did the Jacker –> Dodge –> Frue –> Military Road loop three times. It’s a pretty steady half-mile climb from Jacker to Frue and I struggled and stopped once for a few seconds on the first loop and once again on the second loop.

I forgot to press the lap button on my Garmin on each loop, but thanks to my handy dandy SportTracks program, I was able to estimate that I did the first loop in 10:19, the second loop in 10:16 and the last loop in 10:08. I would love to take all the credit for the time on that last loop, but there was some extra downhill in there as I made my way back to my house. I imagine the actual time was slower than the second loop because I could feel myself running out of steam toward the end.

Here’s the elevation profile. It looks ickier than it actually was, but I felt like I got in a really good workout.

I haven’t decided if I want to add hill training to my weekly schedule yet, though. Now that I’m getting into bigger mileage weeks, I’m a little bit scared of overloading my legs and getting injured.

Here’s me in my cold weather gear about to head out for a run in 6 degree weather.

Add sunglasses to that outfit and I’m completely incognito! A good thing, because most people who saw me out running probably thought I was completely nuts.

Anyhoo, it might have been pretty frigid outside, but I ended up being a little too warm in all my layers. Thermal capris, thermal tights, thermal running pants, thermal turtleneck, thermal long sleeve shirt, wind jacket, and thermal ski gloves turned out to be too many thermals.  One mile into my run, I was trying to figure out what layers I could shed but I didn’t dare stop to take anything off so I suffered in my sweaty gear.  The worst part was that my mask got soaked from all my heavy breathing and wearing a wet mask is just so gross. Oh, and the inside layer of my hat was soaked, but the outside layer was covered in ice. That was pretty neat.

I debated all morning whether to go or not, and I was glad I finally decided to head out. Despite being cold (have I mentioned that it was cold?), it was also really sunny with gorgeous blue skies and no wind. I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen the sun, so I was able to get a nice dose of vitamin D and I felt really good when I got home.

I’m closing in on a month back to running now, and I’m feeling pretty good.  My shins are doing okay. I don’t have any pain, but I do have a very low grade discomfort in my posterior tendon area which seems to be well managed by Ibuprofen, stretching, rolling and massage.  I’ve been also doing exercises to strengthen my arches and my tibialis posterior muscles since I’m thinking I may have some muscle imbalances going on.  Well, that’s what the results of my eternal quest for self-diagnosis tells me today.

I have until the end of this month to noodle around with my running and then I pick up an official training plan for a half marathon in May. If I make it through the end of February without anything flaring up, meaning I can make it through the first month of training, I think I’ll be okay. Fingers crossed.