Emily's training blog

My legs were still pretty dead today. I slept in a little bit this morning and ran at the gym. I kept my effort easy. I did a 20 song run. I made 10.5 miles in 20 songs. I thought of running farther, but I started to energy crash around eight miles. So, I finished a couple more and went and got lunch. Not enough breakfast this morning.

AM: 5 easy grass loop miles. My first mile was 8:50. Still feeling fairly shot. I planned a fartlek workout for today, but I think I will take one more day to recover a bit. My body is telling me that last week was brutal!  8:04 average.

PM:  9 miles down to the river.  My soleus kept tightening up, so I tried to keep under control.  I felt pretty good otherwise, but now I'm nervous about straining or tearing a muscle.  I will have to see if I can get it loosened uo tonight.  It did seem to feel better after about 4-5 miles.  I'm nervous about getting up on my toes for speedwork, so I may have to modify this week's plan a bit.  Please hold together, body, for six more weeks!  I have worked way too hard to get injured.  I had better get that qualifier!

Highlight of the run.  Two neighborhood girls cheered for me every time I ran past them. It actually made me run faster!  7:15 average.

I was a bit nervous to try a tempo run with my calf tightening up. I decided to see how it felt after the warm up and go from there. As long as I kept it under 6:00 miles, I was okay. Any faster and it started to get tight. I wanted ten. I settled for nine to play it safe. My calf was starting to get angry.

6:20, 6:10, 6:09, 6:09, 6:04, 6:06, 6:02, 6:04, 6:00. Other than the calf, I felt like I could continue. Time to baby my leg.

I wanted to throw in a fartlek workout this week, butI may be better off preparing to make it through 22 miles on Saturday.

AM: Calf is still tight. I need to get it to relax. No impact today. I cycled for 1.5 hours this morning. I used a cycling video on You Tube. I'm still counting cross training as mileage. Mostly because I can't bear to watch my mileage plummet. Freaking out a bit, here, but trying not to. I watched three episodes of Vampire Diaries while I rode. My kids are barfing. Aggh! 1.5 hours equals 7.5 miles.

PM: So, I think I'm going to survive. As long as I'm careful. I did 30 minutes on theeelliptical, and then got bored. I thought I would test my leg out , so I got on the treadmill. I started slowly. If my calf tightened I was done, but it hung in there. I ran 20 minutes with no problems. I will probably try an easy run tomorrow. It might be a mix of running and cross training for a couple days, but at least I'm not completely out of commission. 5.15 miles.

I cycled for ten minutes to get the blood flowing. I went out for a run without much of a plan as to how far I was going to run. My leg took a few miles to warm out, but felt better as I went along. I couldn't waste such a beautiful fall day, so I kept going. I managed ten with no problems. I will keep babying my calf, but I think I'm in the clear. We will see next week when I put some turnover back in.

7:08 average.

No calf pain today. I'm very happy it made it through 20 miles. That was a difficult run. I planned on running this morning, but I was up all night with two vomiting children. I was up until 3 AM. So, getting up at five was not an option. Not that I got much more sleep. I waited for Devra to get off work so I could have a running buddy. It was 78 degrees with 25 mph winds when we ran. We ran out 4800 S, along Vine, out to Wheeler Farm, two laps around Wheeler Farm, back around MurrayPark to 4800S, onto the river trail to Winchester, up Winchester Hill, and back via 1300W. The three miles into a headwind on the river trail was the hardest part. We ran a 7:05 average. I was so glad to have Devra pull me through.

I'm happy this week is over. Forecast for Monumental Half next Saturday: 35 degrees. 20 percent chance of snow. Time to be another kind of tough.