Fitness Friday

Happy Friday!

I hope your week went well, and you achieved what you set out to do on Monday. My week has been full of ups and downs.

Sunday - 10 miles, easy pace. To say that I was nervous about this run would be a huge understatement. But I was feeling good, thanks to my new KT tape, so I figured that I'd just go out and see how things went. Surprisingly, my leg felt pretty good the whole time. Occasional twinges of discomfort, but I'd say 90% of the run felt normal. It could have been due to how slow I was running though. Caution combined with 100% humidity and dense fog led to an average pace of 10:14 min/mi. Most of those first miles were more around 10:20. I don't think I've ever run that slow! I know slow is relative, but for me...that's definitely not fast. The rest of the day was spent lounging, foam rolling, icing, and basically resting. Legs still feel ok except one specific spot along my medial tibialis, right next to the bone. Maybe on the bone? I'm not sure. I wish I had an at-home x-ray machine!

I'm sexy and I know it. At least it's pink!

Monday - 7 miles on the bike. Average speed of 14.1 mph. My quads felt like jello after this ride. I guess that's good?

Tuesday - 6 mile cutdown run: 1 mile warm up, 4 miles (8:55, 8:45, 8:35, 8:25), 1 mile cool down. Can I tell you how scared I was for this run? I'm still getting that pinpointed discomfort on my medial tibialis. Not a pain, just a niggling little "hello, I don't feel good" kind of spot. So I figured I'd just start this run, see how I felt, and if things weren't so good then I'd slow down to easy pace and come home. Well, although my leg wasn't perfect the whole time, I never got pain telling me to stop. Just occasional discomfort again. The best thing? It's been mostly ok today post-run, too. Granted I've been taking it very easy, but I feel like I'm making progress! KT Tape, foam rolling, icing, stretching. This is my life. But my paces were great! 9:56, 8:53, 8:47, 8:37, 8:24, 10:10. I even saw a meteor!

Wednesday - 7 miles on the bike, average speed of 13 mph.. I had originally intended on this only being 6 miles. I had another deep tissue massage on Tuesday night, and my quads were unhappy. But, once I got out there, I just kind of meandered around town, lowered my gear so the effort was minimal, and fit a whole 7 miles in. My lower leg was pretty sore all day from the massage as well, but the therapist warned me about this.

Thursday - 3 miles, easy pace. This was rough. It was only 65 degrees, but 100% humidity. I also had a sinus headache that I hoped would clear as I ran, but no dice. Plus I was out late last night at book club, so I was just dragging this morning. Hey, book club ladies know how to party! Lower leg took about 1.5 miles to warm up and never felt quite comfortable, but some ice and stretching afterwards really helped. The pinpoint discomfort has gone away though, so now it's just kind of an overall discomfort in that medial tibialis. But less than the pinpoint? Ugh, so hard to explain. Paces were 10:20, 10:09, 9:45. How's that for negative splits?

Friday - Aww, skunked again. 3 easy miles, but my leg was pretty uncomfortable the entire time. I did lots of stretching and rolling when I got home, and did a little ice massage. I'm hoping this is just lingering soreness from the deep tissue massage, but it is pretty discouraging. Hopefully a day of rest will help things too. The plan is 12 miles on Sunday, and I'm already not looking forward to it. Bummer.

How's your training going? Have you used kinesiology tape?