September 21, 2011

Memphis Marathon Training: Week 5

I had a rough training week last week, with lots of shin pain that I still haven't gotten rid of. I've had sore shins and calves ever since marathon training started. That's also about the same time that I got new shoes -- Nike Zoom Structures. So I don't know if the pain is from the shoes or from increasing my mileage, but whatever the reason, it's gotten much worse. What started as a dull ache several weeks ago ended up in sharp, shooting, stabbing pain in my left leg last week that made my cut my speed work short and take an extra rest day. Could it be medial shin splints? Boy, I hope not.

My chiropractor thinks my gait is affected because my hips are always out of alignment. This apparently makes me run weird and put more weight on one leg than the other. This theory might also explain why I always have a blister in the same spot on one foot, no matter what shoes or socks I wear. While I'm sure my alignment issues play a role, I just looked back at my stats on Daily Mile and think I cracked the code. I went from running 41 miles in July to running 72 miles in the month of August. Yikes! That increase probably should've been a little more gradual. I don't want to risk an injury that would keep me from training, so I'm paying very close attention to my shins and will rest as needed to try to get better. I'm also looking at getting new shoes to see if a little more stability would improve things.

Monday
Speed
I went to the track and ran a mile to warm up before starting 1600 meter (1 mile) repeats. I was supposed to do three repeats of 1600 meters, with a short rest in between. As soon as I started my warm up, I felt a stabbing pain in my left shin, but I was hoping it would go away after I warmed up a bit and stretched. I stopped to stretch so many times, but nothing helped. I ran my first repeat at 9:33 (right on target!!) and the second repeat at 9:40. My paces were so close to what they were supposed to be, which never happens, so I hated to cut the run short, but I just couldn't stand the pain anymore. I was literally limping after my second repeat and couldn't even finish a good cool down. We home and iced my legs, but it was still very painful even just walking around the next day.

3.25 miles/32:28/9:59 avg. pace

Tuesday
Cross train
Spin class is back after a two-week break for summer! Fall classes just started, and it was so good to be back. My teacher isn't super, but it's still a good workout.

Spinning/50 minutes

Wednesday
6 Tempo Rest
Spin class aggravated my shin pain, so I ended up taking an unplanned rest day.

Thursday
6 Tempo
Trea and I both worked late and had to run most of these miles in the dark. We kept running into deer along the bike trails in town! I wore my trusty old (worn out) Brooks Adrenaline GTS 10's to see if maybe my Nikes were causing my shin pain. I still had significant pain and struggled a lot, but it was much better than Monday. My legs hurt too much to manage a tempo pace, so I just focused on getting the miles done.

6 miles/1:06:42/11:06 avg. pace

Friday
Rest
Saw my chiropractor, who put me back in alignment and massaged my calf muscles until I thought I was going to die. It was painful, but it definitely helped!

Saturday
12 Long 3.1 trail/mud run
I rescheduled and split up my long run for the Hillbilly Mud Run 5K. I ran it with the NWA Jogaholics, and it was certainly a one-of-a-kind experience! For a recap and fun pics, click on over HERE.


Sunday
Rest 9 Long
I ran the rest of my 12 miles on Sunday in between thunderstorms. The weather was nasty out, but we got a break in the rain for just long enough to run. It was hot, humid and overcast, and I seriously struggled the whole time. I hit a wall at mile 2 somehow and had to stop about a zillion times to walk, stretch my calves and just catch my breath. I was surprisingly sore from running steep hills at Saturday's mud run, so these 9 miles were not pleasant at all. But I got it done!

9 miles/1:45:09/11:41 avg. pace

Total mileage for the week: 21.35

11 weeks till Memphis! (actually about 10 and a half since this recap is late!)

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