ORRRC Half Training Week 4

Blooms on Thursday and Saturday

Welcome to another Weekly Review linkup with Hoho Runs and MissSippiPiddlin. I'm training for the ORRRC Half on April 10. Read more about my race here. 

Week of March 21 - 27
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 4.7 miles,  9:09 pace
Wednesday: 3 miles, 8:40 pace
Thursday: 5 miles, 8:54 pace
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 12 miles, 9:52 pace
Sunday: 16 mile bike ride

Total (running): 25 miles
2016 total: 295.46

Last week I made a goal to walk to work more than half of this week, but that didn't happen. Why? Well, Monday I thought I had a client meeting, so I wore nice shoes and drove. Those shoes were not friendly to my feet and when I left work Monday one of my feet was swollen! I came home and immediately turned to RICE. The swelling was gone by bedtime, but there was a persistent ache that radiated from my big toe to the inside of my ankle

I iced my ankle throughout the day and after work Tuesday everything felt better, so I decided to test it on a path along the Scioto River. It's a hilly course and by mile 4 I was feeling some aches on my right ankle. When I got back to the car and saw 4.7 instead of 5 I didn't care.

Pretty good dinner on Wednesday

On Wednesday I forgot to take my ice pack to work. I did, however, wrap my ankle the night before and it seemed better. I looked up my symptoms online and after I poured through the doom and gloom results I found one that sounded a lot like my experience: flexor tendonitis. Lucky for me it requires a day's rest, some stretching, and wrapping. Alex had side work that night, so I went for a short run to test my legs and made myself a decent dinner. By the time he got home my ankle was stable and pain-free in my wrap.

Alex needed a run Thursday (he tends to run during spring and fall, so I'm trying to take advantage), but he didn't want to run far and he had some foot pain. I suggested we go to the nearby track since it's cushy. He ran 2 miles with me then ran the stadium steps while I got in another 3 miles. Statistically it was a good run. I tried not to look at my watch and run by feel and hit my goal half marathon times. BUT I did take a few breaks to talk to Alex, grab my phone, take a photo... etc. Nothing too crazy, but I really need to work on nonstop runs!

Saturday was my group run. They had 10, I had 12. I planned to run 10 with them, but around the mile 5 turn around I did some soul-searching and realized what I really need are lonely miles at goal pace, so I continued on by myself. While I didn't hit goal pace on all of my 7 remaining miles (including a huge hill in the final mile) I did okay: 9:21, 9:24, 8:45 (!), 9:06, 9:19, 9:18, 9:43. Not perfect, but better than anything I would have hit last year. My legs felt heavy and I was tired, but I kept trucking. By the way, no weird foot pains.

Along the bike ride

Sunday was a surprise. I had 3 more miles to run this week, but Alex wanted to go on a long-ish bike ride and I wanted to be outside with him. I did freelance work in the morning, then we headed out in 76 degrees for a ride. He said I could chose the route and distance since my quads were toast. After biking from one trail to the next, we racked up 16 miles! It was tough, but I think having tired legs made it easier. This was my first ride longer than a few miles in years, so I'm pleased with the results. Alex said I kicked his butt a few times. I guess my quads are stronger than I thought!

All-in-all a good week. Once again, a weird pain popped up and freaked me out, but I got it under control. Every cramp, twinge, and pain is freaking me out in the lead up to the ORRRC half. I felt a little slow and tired on long runs, but it's time for taper...  I have two short races next weekend, but I'm taking them easy.

Did you get outside and enjoy the (mostly) nice weather this week? 
If your a biker, what kind of bike do you have? I have a hybrid for my short commute (Bianchi Torino) and it's pretty heavy.