Marathon Training: Week 5

This was a big week for me. My first double digit mileage run on Saturday, and a good 5 miler on Wednesday. Here is how it all went down.

The week started with a cross training on Sunday. Leslie and I decided to walk up Stone Mountain to get a good bit of exercise. This was fun, but walking the steep grade worked my calves a lot like a run would. I was a little concerned this may prevent me from fully recovering for my runs later this week. To further complicate the issue, we were running late (for something that I can't even remember) and had to run about a mile and a half back to the car. I felt remarkably good on this short one given that I had run 9 just the day before, so that was really promising.

Again I couldn't get up early this week to do my runs. So I am running at night to avoid the heat, and I have to run late after dinner. I know it isn't ideal, but at least I am getting the mileage in.

Tuesday was a generic 3 miler, easy peasy.

Wednesday is where things got interesting. I took off for a 5 mile run, and I could never seem to get comfortable. I suffered through the first two miles, but my shins were killing me. Again, I keep thinking back to marathon guru Jeff Galloway telling me, "Nobody ever died from shin splints." I felt like I might be the first. I also felt that if I stopped, the inflammation would get worse and my pain would get worse, so I tried to keep going. Almost 2 and half miles in I couldn't take it anymore. I stopped.... and I was right. The pain got worse. Since I was running a loop, I was at the furthest point from home. This totally sucked. I hobbled along, barely maintaining my balance for about half a mile. Little by little I felt like the pain was getting more manageable. I decided to try and run again when I got to the 3 mile mark. I began running and the pain didn't get any worse. In fact, I made it all the way back just 7 minutes behind schedule. This was really encouraging. I feel a lot better that with a little walking I can run through the pain of shin splints if they bother me during the race or on another training run.

However, I was also really disappointed. This is the first training run that I did any significant walking. Not a big deal, but what was more frustrating was wondering where this shin pain came from. I thought I had conquered this two weeks ago. Hopefully this was just a blip from walking the mountain and an additional run on Sunday.

The good news is with a little ice, rest, and training I think I got it back under control. I skipped Thursday's 3 miler for some cross training on the elliptical. This gave me no pain and prepped me for the 10 miler on Saturday.

I overslept on Saturday, and I was so mad at myself. It is difficult to do these long runs, so to do it by myself was not something I was looking forward to. I rushed over to where the running group met up and just took off..... I was 30 minutes late. My major concern was getting to the first water station and seeing all the water gone, or finding that it had already been picked up. Luckily for me it wasn't. I made it to the first water stop and drank some Powerade. Having burned off all of my anger, I was able to settle in to a rhythm and work on the rest of my run. It was really cool actually because by about mile 5 I started seeing a few other runners from the group (crossing my path). I actually even caught up to the slowest time group and passed them. Everything was great until the last water stop at mile 7. I arrived at the stop at the same time some others who were doing a 14 mile run, we all had 3 miles to go. I was going to come home with the cavalry. I think I drank a little too much water and I began to develop a stitch in my ribs. The 14 mile group took off so fast it was like they were running from a time bomb, I just couldn't keep up.

But whatever, I was doing okay on my own until the last mile. The last mile was almost all uphill. I barely made it to the finish, but I did make it. I was so pleased given the circumstances and with no shin pain to speak that I gave Leslie a call and we had a celebratory breakfast a J Christopher's. After 10 miles, nothing on my plate stood a chance.

All in all a great week given the curve balls thrown at me (currently watching the Braves as I write this). Next week should be a good step back week of 3-5-3 in the week and 7 on Saturday. I will keep you posted.