Week 4: July 4-July 10

No sky shot this week, just a flower from Thursday

Happy weekend! I'm linking up with Hoho Runs and MissSippiPiddlin for another weekly review. Read more about my fall goal race and training plan here. 

Week of July 4-July 10
Monday: rest + walk to work (w2w)
Tuesday: rest + w2w
Wednesday: Alex's birthday, w2w + dog walk
Thursday: 3.5 miles + w2w
Friday: 3 miles
Saturday: 4 miles
Sunday: ?

Weekly Total: ?

Bday drinks

This was another odd week. Honestly, the first 4 weeks of this plan have been odd.

Anyway, the off days for Hanson's week 4 are Monday and Tuesday. I planned to go to speed work on Wednesday, then go to dinner with Alex after for his birthday. Around lunchtime he decided he wanted happy hour dinner and drinks and asked me to skip my run. Of course I obliged the birthday boy. We went out for dinner, did some shopping, then came home and (by his request) walked the dog. It was a really nice.

I woke up early-ish and ran before work Thursday. The humidity was a sky high 90% and my pre-run fuel (toast and peanut butter) wasn't sitting well. I intended to make up my Wednesday 5 and go to my Thursday running group for a slow 3 after work, but in the end the morning run was cut by stomach problems and I skipped the group run to assist Alex (he was very stressed going into a busy weekend and needed help prepping for our upcoming trip).

Friday selfies: Sweaty morning and dressed for pizza

On Friday I ran another soggy 3 before work. I fueled properly (Honey Stinger waffle), but went too fast for my plan (9:21, 9:10, 9:05). I really need to enforce slower times on easy days. Regardless, Friday's run was fun and positive BUT (! this whole week is full of buts !) my left calf and shin hurt a ton after I got out of the shower. I wore a compression sleeve on my leg and went to work. We went out for pizza with an out of town friend and when I came home it still hurt. By bedtime it was almost pulsing and I couldn't get to sleep for a while...

All my helpers on Saturday morning

Saturday was my normal group run. The halves had 4 miles, the fulls 7, and I had 6 on my schedule. Initially I'd assumed I'd run with the fulls, but when we hit the half turnaround at 2 I knew I couldn't run on my leg. It wasn't terrible, but something wasn't right. We finished 4 miles and I went to the on-site trainer. The trainer pushed on my leg and it hurt in a 2-3 inch section on the inside of my shin. She said the fact that I did not have targeted pain meant it wasn't a stress fracture (yet). I explained my new shoes (New Balances I've been wearing for a month) and how I used to wear Sauconys with an insole. She said I should try the insoles in the NBs and gave me several calf stretches and instructions to foam roll. Before leaving, she added that if I tried the insoles with the NBs and the pain didn't subside in the first two miles I may need to go back to my old shoes. Long story short: I went home and did the exercises she prescribed and felt better, but a tiny dull hum of pain remained. We'll see what happens with the shoes...

Sunday... well, I don't know yet. If there's time I'm going to attempt to run slowly and with insoles. BUT there may not be time, because...

Before we cut out some things... because we're hungry people.

Alex and I are heading off into the wilderness for a hiking trip. We'll be backwoods in the Smokies for 4 days with a stay at a swanky lodge when we're finished. I'm (still) packing and trying to cram as much in our packs as I can without overdoing it. We have 6-9 miles a day, which isn't bad, but may prove to be interesting with a full pack and thousands of feet in elevation change. We did a short 2-day trip in 2012 – before I was running far – and I was dead tired and super sore the day after we finished. I'm hoping I'm in much better shape and there will be more fun than pain!

We'll be hiking and camping in this area.

So, I apologize in advance: I won't be commenting on blogs for a few days, but I'll catch up when I get back. Next week's recap will include 4 days of hiking and potentially a few days of running.

Have you ever gone on a multi-day backpacking adventure?
Ever had shin pain? 
Aren't foam rollers great... but also terrible when it hurts?