Oh crap

So that fantastic run I had the other day may have broke me. I felt a little sore on the rest day afterwards. But ok to head out on Wednesday. As soon as I started running something wasn't feeling so right with my legs, particularly the left one. It wasn't too bad so I decided to continue and just make it a three mile run. I finished the run with a faster time that I had anticipated or even wanted for that matter. By the time I got home I jumped right into a lower body yoga routine. But throughout the day my shins and knees just felt sore and fatigued. All of my research suggests that shin splints are a sign of overuse - going out to far or too fast. My long run on Monday could certainly have been a factor, but I can not help to notice the timing of the sore shins with my new shoes. I am afraid that the shoes I bought may not be the right ones for me. But because there are two variables at play, I can not be sure. So my plan is to ice the shins a bit and wait until Saturday to run. I have the Carrboro 4 miler on Monday so I want to run a little bit before then. I'll probably run on Saturday an easy run in my new shoes and stick to the old Brooks for the race on Monday.

This....

New shoes take me on my best run in memory!

Another year older this week. But my birthday was very profitable in terms of running gear! The family gave me a gift certificate for Bull City Running so I could get a much needed new pair of shoes. I was all prepared to go in and get the newest model of the Brooks Addiction, which have been my trusty running shoes for years now. But the salesman directed me towards another motion control shoe, the New Balance 850, which was on clearance to make room for the newer model. Same motion control benefits for $60 less. It took me a while to get up the nerve to make a change, but in the end a good shoe with extra money on my gift card to get more running gear was the choice for me. I was a little nervous about it, until I got home and read this article comparing the New Balance to the Addiction 9. It certainly put my mind at ease.

So I headed out in my new shoes for a Saturday run. As I previously wrote about, these runs are not my best since they have to be later in the morning when it is much hotter. I trudged through 3 miles in the heat and humidity listening intently to every little ache I felt in my legs to make sure I hadn't purchased the wrong shoe. In the end it was fine. But I wanted a good solid run to test them out.

I headed out yesterday with a goal of 4-5 miles. Not only to test the new shoe but to make sure I am ready for the Carrboro Four on Fourth run that I have been thinking about (more on that in a different post). It was rough to wake up a little early on Monday morning, but I got up, had a banana and headed out. It was the first run also with my fuel belt. I had it loaded with 2 waters and a Nuun. Immediately I was feeling good. Not much of that dreadful weak feeling I usually have for the first half mile of a typical run. Mile 1 feeling good. No aches in the legs and it is nice to not have to hold a water bottle. Belt is staying in place. By mile 2 I have finished the hilly part of the route and it is flat for the rest of the way. I hit the high school at 2.45 miles - the turn around point for my previous long run but I am feeling excellent so I keep going. I reach the parking lot, which is where I had planned to turn around, but I decide to take a little further to the post office - 2.98 miles. I took a little break to drink the Nuun and I headed back to home with a goal of making it to at least 5 miles. The way back my legs started getting a little tired, but I made it to the "the hill", which I had to walk a bit of. Reached 5 miles on the road into my neighborhood with 0.6 miles left to get home. I actually smiled when I saw 5 miles on my watch knowing that I had it in me for the remaining 0.6 miles. I finished the run sweaty and feeling great. No pain in my legs. The shoes worked great!

Regaining my mojo!

I was all set to post last week about a couple of great 3+ mile runs I logged. I feel like I am finally getting back into the three mile runs. I have been having more success slowing the pace from 9:30 to 10:00 so I can maintain the longer distances. But then came two runs over the weekend and I felt like I was right back at the beginning. I set out both days to log 3 miles and ended up at 2.5miles each with multiple stops in each run. The difference was the time of day and with that the weather and humidity. When I run on the weekends I have to wait until 10:30am to take my 1 hour break. On both days, by 10:30 the temperature was anywhere from 90-95 degrees with high humidity. After about a mile or so I had nothing to give. On Saturday I was through an entire bottle of water at the halfway point. Luckily I was able to find a sink nearby for a re-fill. The thoughts about not being ready to train for the half came sneaking back even though I knew that the weather was mostly to blame for the horrendous runs.

Then this morning I set out at 7am. 75 degrees and moderate humidity and logged my longest run since I started running again - 4.75 miles! I felt pretty good throughout albeit a little sore afterwards. If I can keep this up for the next couple of weeks I feel really confident that I can use a beginner training plan for the race in October!

Not so sure about this.

So I was feeling pretty good about my running back in mid April. I was running 3-4 miles about 3-4 times per week. Then my consistency started falling off. I got sick in mid-April followed by a trip to Boston. It took a couple of weeks to get back into form from that week long break and right when I was feeling good about my running again I had a shoulder injury that prevented me from running. So now I am back. I am trying to be comfortable with runs that are only 2 miles. I feel like I have slid so far backwards. I am SO incredibly motivated for this half marathon, but just am nervous that I don't have the fitness that is required. I have 6 weeks to build back my base mileage before the 12 week training schedules begin. In the next 6 weeks I would really like to get back being comfortable with 3 and 4 mile runs about 4 times per week.