Going Long (again) in 2024

8 easy miles; 8:20 pace for a run time of 66:45.  Cold morning, but dry:  -8C/17F.

14 mile long run at a pace of 7:40 for a run time of 1:47;17.

There was some fresh snow on the ground and a thin layer of ice on the road, so I had to be careful.  Cold - just -12C/10F with the windchill - a slight northwest wind.  

Instead of doubling back on the Linden Rd. extension a couple of times, I ran a bit down the highway and then down Suez Rd.  Turns out that road is exactly one mile and straight and flat, so I have a new route to use for some variety.

Eight weeks to go to the Ottawa Half.  So far, I seem to be  holding my own.  No injuries and not really any aches either.  My massage therapist just had a baby, so I'm seeing a new one on Monday - hopefully is as good at working out all the kinks.

7 easy treadmill miles; a good bit of snow overnight makes everything a mess outside.  Plus it's -26C/-14F out there.  There is still a layer of ice on the roads below that, so I opted for the safety of the treadmill this morning.

Run time of just over 61 minutes.

Mondays are now for 'strength work' instead of the speed intervals of the past 8 weeks.  In the Hanson's program, strength work means mile intervals at a pace 10 seconds faster than race pace.

Today it was 6 x 1 miles with 400 recoveries.

Challenging day for it, with a cold North wind (most of the intervals were either East or West, so the wind wasn't a huge factor) and icy roads.  Temperature was -19C/-2F.

Anyway, I nailed the splits at:  6:37  6;35  6;34  6;39  6;37  and  6;45.

Tempo pace on the treadmill ... 6 miles at just under 42 minutes.  We are at the front edge of a major storm - they are calling for up to 30cm/12 inches of snow.  Ouch.  It started earlier this morning and I didn't want to take a chance running faster on the slick roads.

With 5 minutes of tempo race running left, my treadmill came unplugged and I almost went over the top.  Fortunately, no injuries resulted.  I'll have to watch that though - it was quite a sudden stop.

8 easy miles on the treadmill - 71 minutes.  That spring snowstorm is still pounding us.  It's just miserable out there.  

7 easy treadmill miles.  Hope to get outside for my 12 miler tomorrow.

12easy miles; 8:30 pace for a run time of  1:42.

COLD!  Just -16C/4F with a windchill factor of -25C/-14F and a cold North wind blowing at 31 km/h or 19 mph.

And the roads are just a crazy mess.  No bare pavement - just ice, packed snow, ruts, frozen slop - just a not nice running surface.  Oh, I sure hope that was the last storm of the season.  We are due for warm.

Oh, and I have a niggle on the outside of my right shin a few inches below the knee.  It's a new pain for me, so am not sure what it is.  It didn't affect my stride at all, so I ran the whole 12 miles with it and it didn't get any worse.  I'll try some ultrasound on it later today.

Well, that niggle I felt yesterday is a lot more than that today.  The pain in that shin muscle got worse and worse as the day went on.  I stretched, iced, used ultrasound and took ibuprofin.  It was still there, but not quite as bad when I woke up.  I decided to head out for a shorter run of 5 miles, instead of 7.  But, I barely could run at all.  Literally, I took maybe three strides and had to limp back to my house :(   And that was even after I took ibuprofin this morning.

My best self diagnosis is Exertional Compartment Sydrome.  I hope I'm wrong.  But that seems to match up best with where the pain is located.  For sure it's in the muscle and not the bone.  It doesn't quite line up with how ECS normally presents, however, so that's my glimmer of light.  The pain came on too quickly, didn't subside as it should have (actually got worse) and I didn't make any of the training mistakes associated with it.  So, I'm still hopeful it's just a muscle strain.  I'll do more research later when I have time to see about other possibilities.

For now, however - no running at all.  I'm drowning my sorrows this morning with eggs, toast and sausage.  Yes, it has come to that!  :(

One hour on the spin bike.  Tried to run slowly on the treadmill first, but the pain is still there.  After the one hour spin, I walked one mile fast on the treadmill.

Still not sure it's ECS.  The sore muscle is the Tibialis Anterior.  I can't believe I'd have 'shin splints' at this point in my running history, but that would be a far better diagnosis than ECS.  I'll keep icing it and stretching and will hold off running until the pain subsides.

1 hour on the spin bike, followed by a 1 mile walk on the treadmill.  No improvement.  If anything, it might be worse.  

1 hour spin bike; 1 mile fast walk on treadmill.

Same routine:  1 hour on the spin bike and one fast mile walk on the treadmill. 

Icing and stretching ongoing.  Maybe a slight improvement in what I now believe to be simple shin spints in my Tibialis anterior.  Pretty sure it's NOT Exertional Compartment Syndrome, for which I am incredibly grateful.

I'm guessing that 12 mile run on the frozen slush last Saturday is what caused this.  It has been 5 days, so I should start to notice some improvement happening.

Spin bike for one hour, followed by one mile walk on the treadmill.  Pushed the speed a bit too much on the walk and it hurt.  

Tried something different today (didn't want to spend another hour on the spin bike), so I wrapped my lower leg with a tensor and walked on the treadmill for one hour instead. 3.75 miles.  Twice, when I pushed the speed above 4 mph, I had to quickly back down due to pain.  Today is 7 days since I hurt the leg.  Is it any better?  Don't know.  Everything I've read says 6 weeks to recovery.  More ice.

1 hour on the spin bike and 1 mile fast walk on the treadmill.

I wanted to see where my leg was at, so I decided to slow run on the treadmill.  

Ran ultra slow:  1 mile at 12:00, walk 400, 1 mile at 11:00, walk 400, and 1 mile at 10.

I was going to go another mile, but opted for caution.  There is still some lingering pain in the tibialis and the last thing I want is to make it worse.  

Still, after 9 days of no running, it felt good to go even that little distance at that slow speed.  I'll know better tomorrow if I can keep it up, or if I'll need to back off again.

4 x 1 mile with a quarter mile fast walk between.  Ran the 1st three at a 10:00 pace, and the last at a 9:30.  For sure not there yet ... still a dull ache in the tibialis anterior.  However, I prefer the slow run to the spin bike any day.  I'll try picking it up a bit more tomorrow, and then will take it outside on Thursday if all goes well.

5 easy miles at a pace of 8:48 and a running time of 44 minutes --- outside.

The leg was feeling okay, and so I decided to chance it outside.  I'm glad I did.  I didn't push it at all, and was able to keep the run continuous.  I could feel a dull ache from about mile 2 onwards, but nothing I would call pain.  The real test will be how I feel tomorrow.  I'm hoping I can bump the distance up a bit every day.

Up to 6 miles today, and I picked up the speed - average of 8:26/mile, but it ranged from just under 9:00/mile for the 1st to just under 8:00/mile for the last.  Still have that dull ache in the leg, but again nothing I would characterize as pain.  So, I'll keep doing what I'm doing - icing and stretching - and see if I can get back on track for training.

8 miles outside - feeling stronger, as there was even less of a dull ache in that tibialis muscle.  

I planned on running 7 with the one mile extension a possibility.  At the junction, I decided I was feeling well enough to go the extra mile.

Average pace was 8:02. I ran the 1st mile at 8:30, then next 3 miles around 8:20, then picked it to 8:02, 7:45, 7:27 and 7:35.  The faster speeds did not seem to make the leg feel any worse.

So, it is just 2 weeks ago today that I injured the leg, and it seems to be on the verge of being healed.  I'll likely have to adjust my workouts downwards a bit next week, and then hopefully can return to full training.  Of course, at that point I'm only 4 weeks away from race day.

5 easy miles; average 8:30 pace.

I'm hoping I'm back on track and will try to follow my training schedule for this week with the following adjustments:

First, I'm going to reduce my race goal speed from 6:50/mile to 7:00/mile (sub 1:32 finish).  I'm pretty sure a sub 1:30 is pushing it too much for the Spring, but I'll take another run at it this Fall.  So, all my training paces will be adjusted accordingly.

Second, I'm going to reduce my mileage.  I've actually been running more miles than scheduled, by tacking on 2 miles to all four of my easy and/or long days, for an extra 8 miles/week.  So, I'm going to cut those out, and just stick with what my training program provides.  I'll still be above 50 miles/week, which is pretty good for me for a Half program, but I'll reduce the risk of injury.

Anyway, that's the plan.  Tomorrow I'll know if it's realistic, as I'm scheduled for a 10 mile fast run (strength workout).  Today, my tibialis was a virtual non-issue.  Not even a dull ache, except for a few moments here and there.  I'll continue it ice and stretch it, and am going to resume my plyometric strength routine this week.

Strength workout:  2 x 3 mile repeats at a goal pace of 6:50.

First set was into a light wind of 19 km/h or 12 mph.  Struggled with my pace:  6:54, 7:05 and 6:52, for an average of 6:57.

One mile recovery, and the did better with my pacing for the next set:  6:43, 6:48 and 6:48 for an average of 6:47.

The really GOOD news, however, is that there was NO pain in my shin - not even a dull ache.  That is really what I was hoping for today.

Tempo run.  7 miles at race pace.  It wasn't easy, but I did it.  Managed to run an average pace of 6:53/mile.

This was really the first tempo run I have done where I didn't have to fight the wind or navigate icy roads.  A bit cool at -9C/15F, but not bad once the pace picked up.

5 miles easy; 8:44 pace.

6 easy miles; 8:29 pace.  There seems to be no lingering effect from the tibialis strain.  Good news!  Hamstrings have been tight since Wednesday's tempo run, but I think I have them under control - icing them right now.

14 mile long run; 7:49 pace.  Kept it pretty even.  Right hammie still tight, but no worse during or after the run.  Pretty good running day at 2C/35F and pretty much no wind.  For sure I feel that 2 week loss in training though - my 14 mile run 4 weeks ago felt easier.  Still, it could have been worse and I'm just happy to be running again.