[S]he Conquers Who Endures

Recovery run in 78 degree weather with my sister. 10:15 min/mi pace. This was so weird to run this pace, but my sister is just getting into running after having a baby so I tried to pace slightly behind her to boost her self esteem. :)

Last threshold run until my 8k race on Sunday!!! Man, this one was tougher than last week. It was only a 30 min threshold run (shorter than last week), but I think all the partying this weekend for my brother's wedding wore me out a bit. I stuck it out and finished the workout at 6:55 min/mi pace for 4.4 miles. I am actually pretty happy I can hold that pace while in less than ideal shape. Plus, my calves are so sore and tight from my Saturday bridge run in my 4 mm drop shoes. I think I'll heal up nicely by Sunday. I'm doing a mini taper for this 8k, which may affect my Big Sur performance, but I don't care I want to hit this fast 8k pace and I'm not racing Big Sur. I'm so inexperienced at shorter races so my nerves are already getting to me!!

6 easy miles. I wasn't sure if I should do my normal medium-hard effort today (during taper week for 8k), but my calf decided for me! It's still bothering me really bad. I woke up and didn't know if I could even run it was so tight and painful. I heated the muscle with a heating pad then just decided to go out and see what it felt like. I used a higher drop shoe to take the tension off and that seemed to help a lot. It was mostly pain free and actually felt really good to get the blood flowing to the muscle. Averaged 9:05 min/mi pace and felt like I was going a lot slower. I know this is from trying to get into lower drop shoes too quickly so I think if I do a better job of rotating with higher drop shoes, I still have plenty of time for the tightness and pain to subside for race day on Sunday.

AM: 4 recovery miles with one tight, painful calf. Besides the calves, my legs were feeling pretty good, ready to run. AP: 9:05 min/mi

PM: 4 recovery miles along the St. Charles River during a beautiful sunset. Trying to loosen up the calf. The Nike Frees feel nice to run in. :) 

Last speed work on the treadmill before race day. I was planning between 5-8x0.25 mi repeats at 1% incline and 10 MPH/6:00 min/mi pace. My calf felt okay and like it could hold up. By the 3rd or 4th, I decided not to push it and stopped after the 5th repeat. I got curious what my desired 8k pace would feel like so I decided to throw in one more 0.25 mi repeat but at 6:39 min/mi pace (which is probably slower outside). It actually felt really, really good on my calf. I think the slower running was necessary but is more painful. Good news!!

First complete rest day from running since January!! I kinda didn't realize I was running so consecutively. Maybe I should be backing down to 6 days of running per week...

3 easy miles with my old running group in Chicago. Getting pretty worried, my calf is still bothering me and I was huffing and puffing running with the 9 min/mi pace group!!! Finished with my first set of outdoor 0.1 mile strides since December. Paces were: 5:44, 5:42, 5:41, 5:30 min/mi. Normally I run 6:00 min/mi on the treadmill at 1% incline because that's the fastest it will go!! I'm outgrowing my treadmill. Well, at least it's not mine, it's the apartment complexes, so maybe a good excuse to buy my own. ;)

After my humbling short run, I went to visit my PT for an injury screening and to make sure I am not being stupid by racing tomorrow. She said I have a calf strain and says I can run. I just need to drop out if the pain gets to 7 or 8 or if my gait changes. She dug around in some knots in my calf to try to get the muscle to relax, which kind of tightened it, but then stretching helped it a bit. We will see how this goes tomorrow! I guess this planned taper if anything prevented me from trying to run more on a bum calf. I want to race the 8k, but I also want to be able to run Big Sur at the end of the month!