Finally back to double digits

Here's an update of my running, starting with last Saturday:

Saturday 3/17: 9 Miler outside with absolutely, hands down, the craziest wind I have ever run in. It even swept my feet out from under me at one point. It felt like a miracle I was making forward progress at all at some moments. Good challenge, though. And some decent hills. 9:14 pace.
Monday 3/19: 3.2 on the treadmill. 9:05 pace.
Tuesday 3/20: 2 miler on the treadmill. Legs felt bad, but I was planning on a short run anyway and doing some weight resistance. Worked my calves, hamstrings, butt and quads. Ouch.
Thursday 3/22: 5 miler on the treadmill. 9:35 pace. I was absolutely exhausted that morning and had to force myself to go. Feels good beating your laziness like that.
Today/Saturday 3/24: 10 miler on the treadmill. We had a beautiful 70 degree day, but Justin was in St. George for a work trip, so I had to take the kids to the gym and run indoors. It wasn't too bad. To be honest, it was kind of nice not to have to face the wind and hills of Daybreak today! 9:28 pace. I found these new treadmills at the gym that are fabulous for distance running. I've been using the main treadmills that only have a 60 minute time limit, so I have to restart them when doing long runs... kind of annoying. These other treadmills will let you go as far as you want, and they have this cool touch screen that will show you a visual of your run in different ways. I was watching myself go around a track. I thought, "every distance runner's nightmare- a long run on a treadmill, but pretending your on a track!" I only had to go around 40 laps... haha.. Really though, not too bad.

And that pretty much wraps it up, just an update on what I've been doing lately.
And oh yeah, I've also been logging my runs and workouts on dailymile.com. It's way easier for me to remember what I've done when I can record it every day, instead of just trying to remember for my weekend blog post. :) So far I really like the site.

Magic

Something crazy and magical happened last week. 

I was reading Becca's blog and commented something or other about how I might be babying my shins too much. And after I wrote that, I thought, "No really. I might be babying them too much!"

So I started reading my posts from when I got way bad shin splints before my marathon. I did take some time off, but it wasn't like I was 100% when I started running again. I ran a 17 miler with my leg wrapped up in an ace bandage and I was still able to continue training and run an entire MARATHON without being 100%.

So I decided to stop being terrified of the slightest hint of shin pain and just go for it.

The next day I ran 5 miles.

I swear the mental change made a physical change.

It felt like I was completely fine.

I did somehow notice on that run that my right foot overpronates a bit more than my left, so I very slightly adjusted my pronation to be a little more neutral. I knew I had to be careful, because if I overcompensated, I would end up with some other wacky injury.

I iced and iced when I got home even though I wasn't really hurting.

I took the next day off, and the next day was this beautiful, sunny Saturday and I just went for it. I ran 8 miles with hills and wind and it felt awesome. I did a 9:18 pace overall, but half of it was uphill so for a good chunk I was running my normal 8-something pace. It was fabulous.

This week I did a 3-miler and a 4-miler (today) and I'm planning on 9 for Saturday. Feels great to be back in the game. Just icing, icing, icing, wearing my compression sleeve on the right leg for long runs, and making sure I keep that pronation slightly neutral.

Next race is most likely a half on April 28th. Can't wait!

Lately

Alright, just a quick update on running of late.

So in my last post, I mentioned I took two weeks off running. 

That was SO hard. I was sooo tempted to run that Saturday but I didn't.

But by Monday, I thought I might die if I didn't run again so I went for a little run- SLOW and short... I can't remember how long. The left leg was definitely completely healed, and I could only barely feel my right shin, and didn't have any shin pain whatsoever after the run. Good sign.

So since then I have been taking it really easy. I can still feel the shin a little while I run (no post-run pain) so I'm babying it like crazy. Yeah, it is kind of discouraging and sometimes I find myself thinking things like, "Maybe I need a new hobby... maybe I should get a bike." But when it comes down to it, I just love running. I really do crave it. So for now... I'm doing what I can do and taking it super easy- only running a few days a week 2-4 miles at a 10 minute or slower pace. I know ideally I shouldn't run at all until the thing is completely healed, but I'm trying to keep some sort of aerobic base. And it feels really close. Let's hope I can move on soon.

Quick update...

Tomorrow will mark 2 weeks without running.

I'm pretty bummed out about it, but I jammed my leg when I missed a step in the cycle room 2 weeks ago and it just... did something.

I was feeling okay after my 9 mile run 2 Saturdays ago. I could feel my right shin a little but it was okay. And then when I jammed it... it just felt like something ripped. Just enough. 

A couple of days ago I parked my car  and ran across the street to give this poor homeless old man who was shaking like he had Parkinsons some money and just running across the street caused my shin to ache for a good half hour. Not good.

So... I'm resting it. I don't know how long this is going to take, but it's all I can do!

And I'm back

Well, our tax return looked pretty good so Justin gave me the go-ahead to get some new shoes.

I think I'm a Mizuno girl for life.

I've always preferred Mizuno's, especially since they helped so much with my shin splints while training for my first marathon.

But after a few pairs, I was wondering if maybe there might be an even better shoe for me that I have yet to discover.

If there is, I still haven't found it.

I love the way my foot rolls in the Mizuno's, they just feel so natural.

So I am loving my new Mizuno Wave Alchemy 11's. 

My shins are doing better already.

I got the shoes on Wednesday and ran 3.2 on Wednesday, 4 on Thursday, 1 + a high-intensity elliptical workout on Friday, and today I ran 9 miles. I think that's the furthest I've gone since the Halloween Half and my legs felt good. Absolutely no shin pain in my left leg and some in my right, but manageable. I picked up some compression sleeves, too (thanks for that tip, Becca). The guy at the running store said he never runs a long run without them (2+ hours), but I decided to run in them today since this was a long run for me. The combination of new shoes and the sleeves helped a ton, my legs haven't felt that good in a while.

But because the right shin is still bothering me some, I'm icing and elevating, too, and hopefully it will go away soon.

Break time

It's time to take a break from running.

It pains me to say that, but my shins have been acting up again this week.

And it's just not worth it right now.

I know I need new shoes. I'm pretty sure that is basically the entire problem.

I've got my eye on these:

Brooks Adrenaline GTS 11. Last year's model. I tried on the 12's and really liked them but I've heard from multiple sources that the 11's were crazy awesome and superior in every way. So I just need to find a place to try them out.

But we are trying to be smart with our money right now (have a third acre to landscape in a couple of months), so we decided new running shoes will have to wait until our next credit card cycle (we put everything on our credit card... and we pay it off every month... and I know the experts say to never do that... but we have been doing it for years and have never paid a penny in interest... and have made hundreds and hundreds of dollars in rewards... so on we go... and I don't know why I elaborated on that... or why all the dots... but anyway...).  :)

So my Valentine's gift from Justin has been predetermined: new shoes.

So the next few weeks I will cross train in every way imaginable. 

Barbell classes.

Cycle classes.

Conditioning classes.

That really cool elliptical at our gym that is crazy hard!

Maybe I will join Justin in swimming.

That guy. He has been swimming like crazy. His workout of choice lately has been creating indoor triathlons at the gym. And yesterday he swam 16 laps straight! I may have a good swim coach on my hands.

Alright, here goes anything and everything BUT running!

Three runs, feeling fine!

Monday: 20/20/20 Elliptical/Bike/Stairmill

Tuesday: 4.5 miles. 9:40 pace for the 1st 2 miles, 9:13 for the second two. Nice slow run to baby those shins and burn fat. And right when I started my cool down, the Party Rock Anthem came on and I just had to aprovechar. I bumped it up to 8:34 for half a mile. Sure felt good to run at a normal pace.

Wednesday: Got inspired by Munro's wake up early post and got up at 5 a.m. to do a 5:30 cycle class at the gym. Won't be doing that again. ;)
Thursday: I can't remember, I think I took the day off.
Friday: Ran 4 miles... 9 something pace to start and finished with an 8:34 for the last 2.5 I think. Shins were okay. Just a barely there kind of pain in the warm up but fine for the rest of the run and post run.
Saturday: I was really feeling a long run. I wanted to do nine. My shins felt fine, but again, just that barely there feeling like "don't do anything crazy." But I decided 9 would be okay if I took it easy. I went to the gym in the late afternoon and had to run on the treadmill because we had some nasty pouring rain/snow weather. I also had to hurry because we were having my sister's soon-to-be-in-laws over for dinner and I was out of time. Totally ran out of time and only did seven. I warmed up at a 9-something pace and then ran a range between 8:00-8:34 the rest of the way. Everything felt fine, woo hoo!

Dressing Recipe of the week:

I love good salad dressing. I've kind of fallen off the calorie-counting bandwagon, but I still eat salads almost every day for lunch. This is a dressing I made up this week that I really enjoyed... we'll call it 

Avocado Dressing:

-.5-1 avocado

-1 T. light mayo

-2 T. lemon juice

-1/2 cup skim milk

-about 2 T. cilantro

-1 clove garlic

-Seasoning salt to taste

I threw this on some red leaf lettuce, tomatoes, red onion and broken tortilla chips and scarfed it. So good.