Perhaps it was the snow...
We had our first real snowfall of the year last Sunday night. I had worked all day then driven to my brother's house to pick up G after he had picked her up from Nutcracker rehearsal. The snow was coming down. It was cold. All I wanted to do was sit in front of a roaring fire - which he had in his fireplace. Unfortunately, we had to leave...
All I've wanted to do all week is curl up in front of a fire with a glass of wine and a crochet project. Ahh... like that's ever going to happen!
Here is the reality of my week...
Sunday - Rest. Spent the whole day at work.
Monday - 4 miles. After a weekend at work all I wanted to do was sleep. However, I had to drive back down in the morning for a 3 hour computer training session. Plan was to run after that. It was still cold and slushy out so I ended up at the indoor track. I almost quit after two laps. My head was throbbing and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest. My legs were tired and my feet were just slapping the ground. It was suppose to be a nice easy run but there was no easy feeling at all. I finally made it a mile and then decided I only had three more to go so I finished the run but all I wanted to do was lay down on the track. Plus, I started getting a dull throbbing pain in my right shin. Shin splints. I rarely get them but usually it's when I'm tired and my feet just slap around on the ground. I don't know if it's a cause or an effect... normally I don't make any noise when I run but when I'm tired I can hear them slap the ground.
Tuesday - 8 miles. A really cold evening run on the Monon. My car said it was 21 degrees. My phone said it was 17 degrees. I think the wind chill was in the single digits. I was wearing capri tights and worried my ankles were going to get frostbite after a mile but continued on. The run itself was fine - which was a relief after Monday's run. When I got done I realized all the skin on my legs, exposed or not, was numb. I still had two hours to kill waiting on my daughter to finish her dance class. Usually I hang out at the library. I bundled up in fleece pants, pullover, and a down jacket after my run but I couldn't warm up. All the cold blood from my extremities came back to my core and I started shivering and couldn't stop. It was ridiculous! I ended up having to go back to my car to sit with the heat and the seat heater on for half an hour so I could warm up enough to stop shaking.
Wednesday - 4 miles. Not quite as cold but really windy. I ran my county road with the heart rate monitor on. Goal was to keep the heart rate under 150. The first two miles I had the wind at my back and ran 9:39 and 9:40. Next two were into the wind and I ran 10:18 and 10:44 and still exceeded my heart rate. Plus, I had that dull nagging pain in my right shin again.
Thursday - 4.5 miles. Plan was to do my 8 mile pace run with speedy Trena. We met at her house and I let her lead the way. Mile 1 - 8:15... OK, let's slow this down! Mile 2 - 8:33... somewhere during mile 2 my right shin started hurting again. The hurt became a real pain, and then a dagger. Finally, after about 2.5 miles I told Trena we were going to have to stop. I wanted to make it to Mile 3 though. Mile 3 - 8:48. I came to a stop and then couldn't put weight on my right leg anymore. It hurt too bad to push off my leg. I had to sit down. I had a moment when I had that stab of fear that something was really wrong. Breathe... breathe... it's just a shin splint. Why the hell do I have a shin splint? I never get shin splints! Why, why, why?!!
After Trena got to watch me roll around on the ground for awhile I finally composed myself enough to stand up and try to walk/run it out. I hobbled the mile and a half back to her house then retreated home to ice my leg. Ughhh.... so much for a good pace run this week!
Friday - Unplanned rest day. I was suppose to do my long run. It was the perfect day for a long run. Cold and sunny. I went less than 200 yards and felt the pain in my right shin again so I stopped and walked back home.
Saturday - 16 miles. This was suppose to be my weekend day off from both work and running. I spent all day doing stuff with my family. By 5 pm though, hubs was gone hunting and both kids were at their own activities so I was a free woman. What to do? Try my long run again.
I was scared. Scared my leg was going to start hurting again. I ended up running a half mile paved loop at the old Westgrove school so that I could stop if anything got bad. I ran slow and gingerly on my leg. After about 5 miles of no pain I relaxed a little. After 10 miles I felt a lot better about things and ran less gingerly. I made 16 and everything still felt fine. Whew! What a relief. I guess I really did have just a bad shin splint on Thursday. I don't think there's any way I could have run 16 miles without pain if I had anything more serious like a stress fracture in my leg... knock on wood.
So that was my week. A couple miles short but salvaged on Saturday night.
Week 4 Total Miles: 36.5
3 good days, 2 bad days, 2 rest days
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