Friday, July 24, 2015

Fitness Friday

Sunday - The epic long run. 15 miles. I was so nervous about this run! Seriously, I was dreaming that I missed getting up at my normal time, so I had to run at like 10 am on a really hot day. Thankfully, that did not happen! I got started around 6:30 am, and the weather was beautiful for the entire run. 60's, sunny, and breezy. Couldn't ask for anything better! I took this nice and slow, listened to a couple of podcasts, and had an average pace of 9:51. My body held up pretty well until about mile 13; that's when the fatigue really started to kick in. So, I think anything longer and I'll be taking an extra gel with me to add a little pep to my step.


Monday - Resting. I ran 15 miles yesterday! I deserve it!

Tuesday  - VO2max workout at the track. I'm either going to have to start doing these in the afternoon, or bring my headlamp. The sun was just starting to peek out when I got to the track at 5am. This workout was 12 x 400m intervals at 7:40-7:50 pace with 2 minutes of rest in between, along with 1 mile warm up/cool down. I brought a baggy with 12 popcorn seeds in it to count out the intervals. There was no way I could keep track of which one I was on, along with the rest periods! I need a better watch that I can program the workouts...

Anyway, my splits broke down like this:
9:58 warm up mile
7:44, 7:51, 7:44, 7:45, 7:48, 7:40, 7:41, 7:48, 7:40, 7:41, 7:41, 7:43
10:01 cool down plus .08 at 10:28 to round the mileage up to 7 miles.

Bam! How's that for a Tuesday morning? The intervals were comfortably hard, and I really liked doing 400m repeats instead of 800m. Long enough to find my pace, but short enough that I didn't have to hold it for so long.

Wednesday - Rest day. I made an appointment yesterday to see my doctor and get some x-rays done because of the nagging pain that I've had in my leg. Oddly enough, this morning the pain shifted from my soleus muscle along side the shin bone, below the calf, to the actual shin bone. No bueno.

We took x-rays, and my doctor had a sneaky suspicion that I had a stress fracture.

Que freak out.

She said she'd send it to the radiologist though, because the line she was looking at was so faint in my films. But, she showed me, and even I could see what she was talking about. So, I went home that night to cry my eyes out to my husband, drink more wine that I should have, and have a lot of pity popcorn.

Thursday - Woke up feeling less than stellar about life. My leg was still kind of achy. But I'd decided on a plan. I'd rest, hopefully do the Detroit half instead of the full, start cross training on my bike, and register for the Fargo Marathon on May 21st. Which means a lot of treadmill and winter training. Sucky, but I'm not waiting another year for my shot at the full.

Then I get a call from my doctor's nurse. Radiologist said it's not a stress fracture. Say what!??! She didn't say what it actually was though, but that I should just rest & ice for 2-3 days. Call back if the pain continues. So...there's hope?

Friday - Rest. My leg is feeling better, but definitely not 100%. I waver back and forth between thinking my doctor and the radiologist are wrong, to thinking I'll be just fine, and back again. My coaches said to let it rest for another day, then do a light 30 minute jog on Sunday to test it out. If that goes well, I'll probably do 2 more days next week of light jogging. The big question is: do I run the half marathon I'm registered for next weekend? I can treat it as a training run and just go easy rather than "race" it. But it all depends on how I'm feeling between now and then. I guess only time will tell?

How's your training going? Have you ever been sidelined by a significant injury?

2 comments:

  1. BRB, packing and moving to MN...no but seriously, I forgot 60s was even a weather option.

    Anyway. You absolutely owned the beginning of the week! I hope your injury turns out to be not quite as bad as you initially thought. I'd play this week by ear and see how it goes...you know you have the endurance to get through a half so if your leg plays nice enough this week, I'd go for it but take it easy. But if you have any reason to think it will hurt more than help, skip it. You're still far enough out from your race that any lost training won't screw you over, but a serious injury will!

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    Replies
    1. Ha! You're welcome to come visit! Although today w we have a high of 88, and no air conditioning. Ick!

      I agree. My plan is to take it easy this week, and see how the leg is feeling come Friday. I did an easy 3 miles today, and it was ok. A little twinge of pain at the end of mile 2, but it went away in a few steps. But it was kind of achy afterward.

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