shin pains – Masher Runs

Week 5 and my main goal of this week was to make sure the pain in my shin was gone, and that I was back to running healthy. I did fairly well in keeping all pain minimal by icing, elevating and wearing compression socks/sleeves whenever I could. And I survived the week without any pain, until the very end.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 5.5 Miles, 1 mile w/u, 3×1600 (8:57, 8:55, 8:51) w/400 recovery, 1 mile c/d + Abs

Wednesday: 5 Miles + Abs & Arms

Thursday: 5.65 Miles, 1 mile w/u, 6×600 hill w/400 recovery, 1 mile, c/d + Abs

Friday: 0

Saturday: 15.6 Miles

Sunday: 0

Total: 31.75 Miles

Tuesday I was back on the treadmill for some mile repeats. I was nervous going in that I’d have some shin pain, so I took my warm up mile pretty easy. Thankfully I was pain free. I didn’t push myself as much as I could have, but I didn’t want to bring on any more pain. I felt good, and decided a step back in training last week was the best decision for me.

I met up with Mallory on Wednesday and we did some easy miles at the rec. It was so nice to finally run on something other than the treadmill, even if the track is 10 laps per mile. We kept things to an easy conversational pace and it went by pretty quickly, despite going around and around for ever.

Thursday I was back on the treadmill for some hill repeats. I decided to move the incline to 5 this time and see how things would go. I felt pretty strong and decided to increase the speed with each one. By the 4th one, I was wearing down a bit, but I pushed myself to complete all six. I may not feel it now, but doing hill repeats every other week will eventually pay off.

Saturday was the first official course run for the Medina Half! Since I didn’t get a long run in last week, I was aiming for 15-16 miles. I was pretty nervous for this run and wasn’t sure how it would go. I think the last time I ran 14+ miles was fall of 2014, so clearly I felt the pressure to run it well.

The goal was to run the half course and tack on miles at the end. The Medina Half course changed this year, and I can honestly say, it’s probably the best course yet. You still wind through a few neighborhoods with gradual inclines, but avoiding the giant hill on Rt. 18 is amazing. And with the addition of a new path and bridge, you now get to spend some extra time around Lake Medina.

I felt relatively well during the long run, fueling at 4 and 10. We had a small group that stuck together and we chatted the miles away, dodging some leftover ice and getting a few Bald Eagle sightings. Once we got back to the square, I ran the last few miles on my own around town, finishing up with 15.6 miles.

Lake Medina

I meant to do my recovery run on Sunday, but I woke up a bit sore and had minimal shin pain. Throughout the day, I still felt tight and the pain in my leg would come and go. Ultimately, I decided to take the day off, and really rethink the next week of training.

Overall it was a pretty good week. I’m at my highest weekly mileage and on track for my highest monthly mileage ever. My only concern is the recurring shin pain. I’ve nearly doubled my mileage, which is probably the reason behind the pain. I need to take a few days to recover and think about how to train smarter while building my mileage. I looked back at Wineglass training, and I didn’t push the longer runs (15+) until week 7 or 8, so I’m a bit ahead of what I’ve done in the past. There’s still plenty of time to get long runs in, so I just need to look at the training again, and see what works and what doesn’t.

Week four is done and honestly, I can’t believe we’re already this far into the training cycle. I know that 18 weeks can seem daunting, but knowing that I only have 14 weeks left to get ready still makes me nervous! This week was a rough one, and I eventually decided that it would be a cut back week…on Sunday. Things just weren’t clicking this week and I could tell my body needed a bit of a break.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 6 Miles, 1 mile w/u, 3×1600 (8:53, 8:42, 8:55) w/400 recovery, 1.5 mile c/d + Abs & Arms

Wednesday: 0

Thursday: 5 Miles

Friday: 0

Saturday: 6 Miles + Abs

Sunday: 3.5 Miles + Abs

Total: 20.5 Miles

Tuesday I was back at the rec, and ready for some mile repeats. We started with our mile warm up on the track and headed to the treadmill for our repeats. Last time I did these, I hovered around a 9:00 minute pace. This time I wanted to push myself a little, so I upped the speed. I was in a pretty good groove and despite being a bit bored, I felt like I was doing a good job of working hard. Until my third repeat when the treadmill hit the 30 minute limit and shut down on me. I tried to get back up to speed as quickly as I could, but the overall time was my slowest. We finished up with a 1.5 mile cool down, some abs and an incredibly hard arm workout.

I had to skip my Wednesday workout again this week. I woke up to a migraine in the middle of the night and was still feeling the tail end of it by evening. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I’ve had enough migraines to know running is the opposite of what I should do. I was disappointed I couldn’t get my run in, but I can’t fight a migraine, no matter how bad I want to run.

I was feeling better on Thursday, so I hit the treadmill. I was aiming to run between 5-7 miles, but mentally I could barely make it to two. I switched up the speed every once and while I found a new show on Netflix, I was still bored out of my mind. It was a struggle, but I got 5 miles in. Sometimes treadmill runs are great, and sometimes they’re the last place I want to be.

Looks like we have the same thoughts on treadmill runs.

Saturday I took the opportunity to sleep in and run on the treadmill. I was a little nervous for how it would go after Thursday’s breakdown, but I actually felt great. I increased the speed every 10 minutes or so, and never felt the need for a break or to jump off.

“Faster! Faster!”

Sunday was pretty much a disaster. After skipping the group run at Hinckley, a few of us decided to run in the afternoon. Until the roads got nasty and I was forced back to the treadmill. I wasn’t in the mindset to run long on the treadmill, but I wanted to see how far I could get without struggling. Unfortunately, my shin had other plans when it decided to have a faint pain in it. I knew not to work it hard, and called it after 3.5 miles. Not a great workout at all.

Overall this week was a bit of a roller coaster. I had a few good runs, and I had a few horrible runs. I’ve had a slight pain in my shin from time to time for the past four days, and I know it’s because I’ve increased my mileage by a lot in such a short amount of time. I always do this, and always need to step back a few weeks into the new training cycle. Pushing myself too much now is not worth the risk of injury. I still have 12 weeks left, which is plenty of time to get ready for the marathon.

Sometimes all you need is a bit of rest and recovery.

I also wanted to focus on hydration and sleep this week. I had over 5 hours of sleep 4 of the 5 weekday nights, which is an improvement to say the least. I tried to be asleep by 10pm, which still gave me plenty of time to toss and turn many times each night.

I also made sure to have at least 30oz of water a day. It’s still not enough, but it’s a goal to aim for. And just like Wineglass, I’ve been cutting back on wine and only drinking it two to three nights a week. This will help to keep me hydrated and hopefully allow me to sleep better.

Next week I’ll be back to my higher mileage, hopefully less pain, and some stronger runs!