Regroup and Try Again

Monday, February 18th

Today went fine. Just really slow with a little more walking. No back pain. A few aches here and there, but nothing major.

2.51 miles; 31:52; 12:41 pace



Tuesday, February 19th

1 mile; 10:58 pace - fastest so far this year
1.02; 11:14

I was not pushing myself or trying to speed up. Once I crossed the street and started on the straight part, I was focusing on form more than anything and trying to get into an easy, comfortable pace that didn't cause pain. When I hit the turn around before the interval beeped, I knew I was going too fast and tried to slow, but it threw me off my form, rhythm and easy pace, so I ended up just going with focusing on form and getting into an easy rhythm that didn't hurt again. I did run the entire mile with no walking - but had to pause a second for cars twice.

No pain while maintaining form. No back pain at all (though it was a little sore this AM when I got up and needed stretching). But my right quad, right ankle and right foot felt off when I wasn't focused on form, or when I was forcing myself to slow down at the turn around. No pain at all after the run. Planning to go to gym for some easy weights and stretching.

Ended up doing 45 minutes of easy weights and then 30 minutes of racquetball with my boys (so not very intense). I'm tired.




Thursday, February 21st

I debated even trying to run today. I didn't sleep much last night, yesterday was absolutely horrible, I was not feeling great all day, and I just wasn't feeling it. I decided to go 1 mile and see how I felt and go from there. I almost stopped like 6 different times.

I ended up running up that same blasted hill at the very end of the run. I ran (slowly) up the entire thing but it took a HUGE effort to keep running afterwards, and it seemed to take forever to recover from the hill and get my breath back. But, then the 3 miles beeped before I realized I'd gone 3 miles - it felt like I still had further to go. As soon as I slowed to a walk, I felt the same pain in my back and my left foot had the nerve pain. I didn't feel it as I was running - it wasn't until I stopped. I stretched and it was better - but the nerve pain stayed a bit and is still easing. I have no idea if it's coming from the stress level, not feeling well, or running up that blasted hill again.

The first mile I tried to just run, but I had to go to the intervals for miles 2 & 3. I just felt really sluggish and off today.

3.02 miles; 37:46; 12:31 pace



Sunday, February 24th

Breakthrough - finally

3.6 miles; 42:15; 11:44 pace

1 - 11:35
2 - 11:37
3 - 11:26
4 - 7.36 (0.6)

ALMOST negative splits!

Today felt good.



Monday, February 25th

My legs are tired & sore - but no pain. My lungs handled it fine - but I was going really slow (or so I thought).

1 - 11:55
2 - 12:05

Thankfully my foot didn't start hurting - even after I got home. But I'm sore. My right knee & quad, my left ankle - just sore spots. Nothing really hurting. Heavy & tired legs for sure.

2.2 miles; 26:24; 12:01 pace



Tuesday, February 26th

40 minutes of total body weight training



Wednesday, February 27th

3.14 miles; 38:28; 12:15 pace

Felt really out of breath the entire run (which was weird). Not sure if it was allergies-sinuses/congestion or if something else was going on. Started with a migraine. A LOT of nerve pain from 2.3 on. This one was hard and didn't feel great.

First mile felt horrible and sluggish - but it was an 11:20 (no walking)
Second mile (with walking) - 12:37
Third mile (with walking) - 12:52

Coach says take tomorrow off to recover. I balked and offered a compromise.

What if I only do 1 mile tomorrow, rest Friday, and then be able to run long Saturday? Sunday's supposed to be the worst day weather-wise.

If I'm still feeling horrible tomorrow I won't do the mile. But if it's possible, I want to.

The nerve pain is what it is. It's not going to get better or worse based on rest days/run days.

He relented.


Thursday, February 28th

1 mile; 12:00
Not bad

Friday - I rested


Saturday, March 2nd

4.08 miles; 51:49; 12:42 pace

1.0 mi 12:16 min/mi 00:12:12
2.0 mi 12:34 min/mi 00:12:31
3.0 mi 12:48 min/mi 00:12:41
4.0 mi 13:11 min/mi 00:13:07
4.1 mi 10:59 min/mi 00:01:00

This wasn't exactly the run I wanted. Especially a week before my 5K race. A lot of walk breaks - and probably slower walk breaks than normal. I started out with the 4.5/1 and then went to 5.5/1 and then 6.5/1, and then tried to do 6/1 for a bit - and it actually was fine. It may be my new go-to when I have to do run/walks.




There wasn't a lot to blog about during this time - but I wanted to let everyone know I was still plugging away at the mileage. Good days, bad days, fast days, slow days - but still going forward.