Half Marathon Training Week 3

Here we are, 3 weeks into the Run Less Run Faster program. Some of the workouts are about to get a little more interesting, but this week was still pretty basic.

Monday I suited up and headed to the pool for an easy kick workout. My shins are awfully sore, but I don't notice it in the pool at all, so I manage through the workout easily. The plan called for 20 lengths of kick and rest 20 sec. I include what I think is a reasonable warm up and cool down. I didn't notice a set one in the book. Maybe I should look closer. I was starting to feel a little bummed about the easiness of the swims, but I glanced ahead at the coming weeks... I'm gonna be pretty busy in the water  starting next week!! Yikes!!

Tuesday was track day of course, but I didn't get to run with Brecka, waaa!! The holiday crazy schedule has started, but hopefully we'll be able to do more runs together than not. I really enjoy them. It took me most of the night, but I finally made my way out for the warm up. My shin was in so much pain, by the time I got to the track and the warm up was finished I needed to go home and put on some Procompression calf sleeves. I needed more support desperately and they always do the trick. I made my way back to the track for Yasso 800's x6!! They needed to be held at 4:05. Due to the pain in my shin and my garmin under measuring a little, the splits were a little more all over the place and not as steady as I normally go for, but they were definitely reasonable. Finished up my cool down on the track, which I don't normally do, but it was dark, so the annoyance of the same sights isn't a problem, haha! Plus it was nice to have the rubber under my feet.

Wednesday has become one of my favorite days. Rest day is something I protect quite seriously. I still walk 10,000 steps as a challenge in one of my local MRTT groups, but it's something I'll probably continue. I like the movement and it helps work out some of the tightness I would otherwise just sit through.

Thursday is tempo day, but since it was Thanksgiving, it was Turkey Trot day!! 6 miles were on the schedule and our little neighborhood trot is a 5k or loop a second time for the 10k. Naturally I ran the 10k. I tried to tape up my shin, but it still hurt pretty badly, so I added some topical creams to help with the pain, took some ibuprofen, iced it and went to bed with hopes that it would be manageable. The plan says 2 easy, 3 @ 8:58, 1 easy, but I decided to go for broke and race that sucker. I wanted a PR if I could get one. And I DID!!! One day I'll have a sub 55:00, but this was not the year for it.

Flat Lovie

Flat Run Like the Winded

My sweet little Lovie has been telling me for the entire year she wanted to do the 5k. I took her out the evening before to walk the course so she knew which turns to make. She said she didn't want me to have to run with her, even though I offered over and over again. She complained of sore aching feet, after glancing down at her shoes, I knew why. We got done and headed to get her new shoes. We even managed to score an early black Friday deal on them. I also hooked her up with her own pair of crops and then Brecka provided us with a replacement top for my handheld water bottle for her. She was set to go! We flat runnered her the night before and off she went to bed.

Cheering in runners!

Just so proud of her. Goof!

Everyone I ran into after the race said she did a great job! They said she looked happy and strong! She finished in 41:10 and I could not be more proud of her. She finished her race and then stood to watch the other racers come in. Her cute little face was the first I noticed as I finished and it made me smile BIG! Boy I love that girl! As we were walking home after, she mentioned that her miles were for Jaylee!! Be still my heart! Later she told me she feels like she accomplished something big in her life...while smiling huge and gesturing big! I believe that was probably the runners high talking, but I'm so happy for her!

Friday is second cross training day, and I was ABSOLUTELY headed to the gym, but woke up with the worst migraine. Seriously! I had hopes, but it just didn't happen.

The resistance was at a 7!

Saturday long run day was to be 10 miles,  easy. If I had run with Brecka I would've done them on the road. Our plans didn't work out to go together, so I opted for the elliptical. My shin really is in an enormous amount of pain and I figured I should maybe reduce the amount of load bearing I put on it. So 10 miles on the elliptical! An hour and forty-two minutes on that thing! You know what isn't very fun? Using the elliptical for that long! Holy heck! I wanted to mimic running as much as I could and figured that was the best way to do it.

I finally got done and decided to pick up the cross training I missed. I really wanted to do it and the plan does say we can double up workouts once in a while, so I did. I decided on the rowing machine and tried to follow that workout. I wasn't clear on what tempo meant entirely, so I just kind of went with it since it was the first time using the rower. That is a tough workout!! My shins were screaming by the time I was done, haha. I wonder if that defeated the purpose of not running. Regardless, I love the rower now and will probably use that as my second cross training workout each week.

Overall a pretty great week three!! I do believe the shin pain will come to an end. I believe it is shin splints and nothing more, but I am trying to be smart about how to handle it. I am rolling them and my calves with my Worm and my m80roller. I even used my tens machine as well. I have a product called Arnicare that I apply and follow it up with doTERRA's Deep Blue rub. I wear Procompression socks and sleeves to add more support. I need to learn the right application for KT Tape as well. I'm sure that would help a lot if I knew how to do that the right way. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I need to start lifting. I really am anxious about it. I almost did a little on Saturday, but I had already been at the gym forever and needed to get home. Will this be the week that I can talk myself into gingerly adding it in?

A preview of my Hot Chocolate 15K costume!  Hopefully I can turn all that cute fabric into two of these cute skirts! 

Half Marathon Training Starts!!

So, I'm going to try something a little different this training cycle while preparing for the Phoenix Half Marathon. I'm going to try and blog about it! This is only my third year running again, and still my first year racing. I've done two half marathons and a few 5k's, a 12k and a 10k. So I'm still learning about what works for me and what doesn't. For my first half marathon I used the Runkeeper app and a training plan it had. It was A LOT of miles and I wound up grounded for three weeks with horrible IT band pain the month before the race. I still made it to the starting line, but I was still injured.

I had been looking into using a different training plan, but didn't know which one. There are so many out there, each promising to get you right where you wanna be. Then one night my best running friend, Brecka, messaged me and said she was pretty sure she's going to use the Run Less Run Faster program to train, and asked what I was going to use.

Now this is a plan I had looked at, but haven't heard much about. I figured, if I use it, we could train together and maybe it would help keep me on track to have a friend to run with and an accountability partner for completing cross training workouts. So I bought the app for my phone, ordered the book from Amazon, set a finish time, and got excited at the prospect of not having to run as much using this program.

Current read. We affectionately call it the "Running Bible" or the "RB".

I haven't quite finished reading the book, I'm almost done, but I LOVE the way training is set up! 3 running days and 2 cross training days. The running days include a track workout, a tempo workout, and a long run, all paces are worked out for you based on your time from a finished race and desired finish time. The cross training for each week has already been planned as well, all you have to decide is which of the two workouts you want to do. There's a lot of information in the book. If you plan to use the program I suggest buying it. Here at Amazon it's cheaper than in the bookstore.

I'm choosing to not disclose my finish time, simply because everyone has some kind of opinion of how fast someone should be able to run. If you follow the same plan, you may be able to figure that out of course.

I have chosen to use the swim as one of my cross training workouts and will alternate between the bike and rowing for the other one. I will also be adding in some strength training to help build muscle and for overall strength and health, even though the plan doesn't necessarily recommend that.

I've just finished week one. I'm starting off injured, which of course isn't ideal, but I know if I listen closely to my body, I should be okay. Monday and Friday will be cross training days, Tuesday track, Thursday tempo and Saturday long run with Wednesday and Sunday as rest days.

Monday's swim workout was actually quite easy. It involved 20 lengths of the pool only kicking with 30sec rest in between. I was a swimmer in a past life, so it really wasn't difficult and made me want to do more, but I'm going to trust the process and follow the plan as closely as I can. In the book it talks about how swimming can loosen the ankles of a runner and help with lower leg power. I also wear short flippers (Finnis Zoomers) which I've read help force your feet to kick the right way. I always wind up with minor shin splints when I start swimming again, I'm hoping that it's just all of the muscles loosening up and the issue will be a short lived one. I also lifted a small circuit of lighter weights for legs that day. I have a hamstring injury (likely tight muscles) and am trying to help strengthen my legs overall. I really miss lifting and am happy to be back in the gym again.

Tuesday was my first track workout and the first workout I was able to do with Brecka! She'd never done speed work like this before so I was pretty excited for her and for our chance to run together!! The workout called for 12 times 400 lengths at 2:00 each and a 90 sec recovery interval. My legs were pretty sore from the previous day's weight lifting, but I managed to nail each one of them at 1:59. We are also doing the required warm up and cool down, which I've never done before, but we're both pretty serious about not getting more, or re, injured!

Wednesday was a rest day, and thank goodness for that! I'm already tired!!

Thursday had me a little worried. The first two miles were to be spent warming up and working your way to your tempo pace. I had not run at any of those paces in a really long time and was anxious at the prospect of having to do so now. What if I bombed it?!! After a quick pep text from Brecka I finally made my way out there to tackle it. Not even a mile in, my Garmin died. That can't be a good sign right? I walked myself home and charged it up just enough to finish the workout. To my surprise, I completely nailed every pace and held the tempos 100% steady! That is a good feeling!
 

Friday was meant to be a cross training day, and I was looking forward to it, but I was having some serious pain in my lower back. I had inadvertently bruised some muscles while trying to roll out my upper back where there's another injury (super tight lats and traps). I decided to rest so I would be ready for the long run on Saturday. It was a good choice. I'll get the second cross training workout this week.

Saturday's run was pretty much perfect! It was amazing weather, a little cold, but not so bad it was uncomfortable, sunny (eventually, we started in the dark) and gorgeous! Brecka and I nailed paces, though a little scattered, and came in under the recommended pace time by 5 sec. Not something we should necessarily do, but GPS is a little wonky on the canal, so we'll make do.

Overall this week's training was pretty much perfect! I loved every minute of it. The sore muscles (not the painful ones), the nerves, the success, the friend! It was great. Some things I still need to work on... adding in upper body lifting. I'm recovering from too tight muscles in my left traps and lats and have been given permission from the chiropractor to start lifting light weights, but to be careful. I will hopefully have another appt this weekend to help work out the knots. I also need to start eating way better. I am not currently eating to perform, and that is not okay. The demands of training means I've got to fuel right. I'm learning, and I'll get there.

If you're still here reading, congrats! That was a lot to go through, haha! Thanks for sticking around and following my journey thus far! I am excited for this training cycle and where I could be in the next 16 weeks! Maybe a PR!

  

Also, are you wondering about the wraps I'm wearing with the positive mantras on them?  Let me tell you about them quickly.  I'll do a separate post about them in further detail, later.  The company is called Momentum Jewelry and the wraps I'm wearing are Motivate Wraps.  I've recently become an ambassador for them, and I couldn't be more excited!!  Right now if you sign up at their website to receive their newsletter (don't worry, they won't spam you), you will receive a 20% coupon code to order from them!!  Sounds like a good deal to me!!  I LOVE my wraps and recently made a huge order.  I've already got in mind the next ones I want for my next order!!  Head over now and get signed up!!