Week 4 was good to me because I actually completed every single run. I know! I'm as amazed as anyone, believe me. I did have to run four days in a row, thanks to snow and ice last Monday morning (I am so, so sick of this never-ending winter) but my feet held up much better than I thought. I was definitely ready to rest by the weekend, though.
The high of my week was the 6 mile long run on Friday. I didn't have huge expectations for this, because I haven't gone this far since November. Plus, this was day four of running and my calves were starting to feel it. So when I headed out, I told myself that I wouldn't look at my watch until the end of my run and would just enjoy running in the sunshine since I was off work. I did just that and although the last two miles were pretty rough, as there were four hills in the last mile and I was pretty much DONE, I was pleasantly surprised when my watch read 58:04 after it beeped in six miles. My 10k PR was 58 minutes and some change during my last half marathon and before I realized that I was injured, my plan was to get an official sub-60 10k PR. Being able to maintain that pace without having run 6 miles in so long gives me confidence that with a little more training or even just some race day adrenaline, I can still try for that 10k PR again soon.
The low has just been running in the dark. It's been a huge struggle. It's not so much the dark as it is the cold, actually. Winter doesn't want to let go and it's so exhausting to face cold and wind every single morning. I'm tired, my legs aren't moving very quickly and I just don't want to wear gloves and a headband anymore. I'm thankful that this week is spring break, so I have a slight reprieve from getting up at 4:30 (but not from running in the cold).
In things that are only exciting to runners, Keli got new shoes, causing us to have a discussion about the difference in drop between her old shoes and her new shoes. I currently run in Altra Intuitions, which are zero drop shoes. I chose them more for the shape of the toe box to help me get over my foot injury than for the zero drop, but I've discovered that I do actually enjoy the zero drop. My calves were a bit more sore at first, but once they adjusted, they weren't anymore sore than normal. I feel like it has improved my gait because I can feel my feet strike the ground a bit better than with old shoes. Don't get me wrong--I'm not saying that you should switch to zero drop shoes. I'd still be running in Brooks Adrenaline with a 12mm drop. That said, these shoes have been amazing for me and I would recommend checking them out if you're thinking of switching or if you've been dealing with any foot problems. They've been amazing for mine.
And like I said last week, COULD WINTER JUST PLEASE GO AWAY?
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3 comments:
Running in the cold dark is completely the hardest part. It is killing me. You comeback is looking good! now you just have to build that confidence back up too. Sometimes the mental is harder that the physical.
I totally agree with Sarah ... you are doing SO AMAZING coming back from an injury. You'll be hitting PR's like CRAZY before you know it. :) You're an inspiration to me, for sure!
You are kicking butt right now! I agree that this winter just needs to go away now - granted, I'm not looking forward to my paces getting slower in the heat but it would be nice to not have to wear 12 layers when I go out to run.
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