Lehigh XC course, the site of my Saturday shakeout.

Eeek! I totally slacked on posting my training from last week. Well, it might be Thursday, but better late than never, right? Anyway last week was kind of tough because I was dealing with some shinsplints and IT band issues but after nixing one workout and taking it very easy on the rest I *think* I dodged an injury-bullet and am feeling much better this week. I’m continuing to ice, compress, and foam roll the crap out of my legs, especially my left one, in order to keep it healthy and strong for the last month of training.

Monday: 50 minutes of Vinyasa Flow Yoga

Tuesday: 5 miles

I took it super easy on this run because my left shin and calf were still kind of bothering me. Even with the easy running they didn’t feel great. I’m hoping with some ice, ibuprofen, and compression they’ll start to feel better.

Plan: 5 miles, easy
Actual: 5 miles in 46:00 at 9:12/mile average
Splits:
(1) 9:33 (2) 9:09 (3) 9:07 (4) 9:11 (5) 9:03

Shoes: Asics Gel Kayano 19

Wednesday: 2 miles, run fail

I knew this high mileage was going to catch up to me sooner or later. I’ve been battling a shin/calf pain for the past week and a half and today I knew the 8-miler on tap wasn’t going to happen. I consulted with my coach and she said it would be best to run a super easy 2 miles and scratch the 8-miler. I did as I was told and will take a rest day tomorrow and hope for a better Friday.

Plan: 8 miles, easy
Actual: 2 miles, easy (Garmin crapped out midrun so I estimated my time)

Thursday: 1 hour of strength training

Abs- 3 x
1:00 planks
0:30 side planks
0:45 supine planks
0:45 bicycles
0:45 bridge

Arms- 3 x 10 reps
Rotational shoulder press- 10lbs
Alternating dumbbell row- 15lbs
Tricep pulls- 15lbs
Chest press on stability ball- 10lbs
21s- 8lbs

Legs-
15 reps of bench step-ups
3 x 15 calf raises
3 x 15 side leg lifts

Friday: 6 miles

Yay! A (relatively) pain-free run! I felt a lot better on this run after taking the past two days off completely. My shin still felt a little sore but I didn’t feel the pain in my IT band like I was feeling on Tuesday and Wednesday. I think the pain is mostly due to overtraining and not being used to the higher mileage so I’m going to try to scale back a little from what my plan says. It felt good though to be running at my happy paces again!

Plan: 6 miles, easy
Actual: 6 miles in 52:00 at 8:40/mile average
Splits:
(1) 9:12/mile (2) 8:37/mile (3) 8:23/mile (4) 9:02/mile (5) 8:50/mile (6) 7:43/mile (!!)

Shoes: Asics Gel Kayano 19
Conditions: 80 degrees and sunny

Saturday: 5 miles

Ran an easy pre-long run shakeout run at the Lehigh Athletics Campus. I ran the first two miles around the campus and track and then found my way to the XC course. This was the first time I ever ran on a XC course and I loved it! It was so beautiful and I think running on the grass was good for my shin/IT band.

Plan: 5 miles, easy
Actual: 5 miles in 44:58 at 8:59/mile average
Splits:
(1) 9:02 (2) 9:12 (3) 9:00 (4) 8:58 (5) 8:46

Shoes: Asics Gel Kayano 19
Conditions: didn’t check but it was pretty warm and really sunny

Sunday: 19-mile long run

It was a long run miracle this morning when I woke up with NO pain in my shins or IT band! I don’t know what happened but I felt great. I took it extra slow though during the run because I didn’t want to aggrevate the pain if it was still healing. I felt pretty good the whole time though. Hoping for a quicker long run next weekend!

Actual: 19 miles in 3:05:44 at 9:46/mile pace
Splits:
(1) 10:18 (2) 9:27 (3) 9:35 (4) 9:52 (5) 9:56 (6) 9:59 (7) 9:35 (8) 9:28 (9) 10:04 (10) 9:35 (11) 9:38 (12) 10:04 (13) 9:50 (14) 9:37 (15) 9:42 (16) 9:47 (17) 9:45 (18) 10:07 (19) 9:22

Weekly total: 38 miles (plan had me running 46 miles, scrapped a total of 8)