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Sunday, March 27, 2016

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.


14 comments:

  1. NOOOOOO! No foot pain. You don't even want to go there. I hope that incident was one and done.

    Great job on the bike ride! I always add cycling to my race training! Works different muscles and I think it has really been beneficial.

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    1. The foot pain was so annoying. It's been ok for a few days, so crisis averted... I guess. I really enjoyed the bike ride and think I'll try to do it more often. My legs will be super sore tomrorow/Tuesday - but it'll be worth it!

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  2. Poo on the foot pain but sounds like RICE helped. Glad taper time is here for you. Ill be glad when we can get back to camping so I can enjoy my bike. Thanks for linking up lady!!

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    1. I'm excited for this taper! We're camping this weekend, but we don't have a bike rack– I think it may be a good investment!

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  3. I hate weird pain that pops up... so frustrating. I work heels Saturday night and the ball of my foot now hurts. And I wear those shoes often and never have a problem. Gggrrrrr.
    You are lucky to be having such nice weather.

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    1. I definitely need some new dress shoes. I wear them so infrequently that I forget how uncomfortable mine are until the day I need them!

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  4. I'm so sorry you had some expected foot pain. Why oh why do we runners continue to have niggling aches and pains. I hate that so much. Running bikes with my hubby is one of my favorite things and it looks like you had the perfect day for it.

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    1. I will never take a pain-free stretch of training for granted again! I may keep up the bike riding to mix things up. We'll see!

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  5. The weather was not very nice here this wkend. I would love for it to be in the 70s. So jealous. Great job on your 16 miles.-L

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    1. We had such great weather Sunday, but now it's back to cold and dreary. Oh well, spring sunshine has to stick at some point!

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  6. Foot pain is everyone's nemesis right now! I understand getting overly worried about every little ache and pain! Bike rides are fun. I have a Trek Lexa XL. Although I enjoyed it immensely (and it was my savior) while injured last fall -- I just want to run right now. Enjoy your taper. Thanks for linking with us Elizabeth.

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    Replies
    1. I think I'll mix in some bike riding, but I understand: running will always be numero uno. So glad you're back to running!

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  7. There is so much foot pain going around lately! I am glad yours seems to be better. We had nice weather this weekend, too. I ran a 10 mile trail race on Saturday and my husband and I went on a hike on the local mountain bike trails on Sunday.

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    1. It was really odd to read so many weekly wrap-ups featuring foot pain last week. Something in the air. ;) Your weekend sounds absolutely perfect!

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