Napa Training Week 11... On the Edge

Admittedly, mileage-wise, I've made myself a pretty aggressive training program this time around... and last week I found myself leaning over the edge of overtraining.

I ran 54 miles in Week 10. I had 58 miles planned for Week 11. I learned that sometimes you just have to step back.

Sunday - Rest.

Monday - 5 miles. Nice easy run.

Tuesday - 12 miles. The weather is getting nasty and I hamster tracked it. Still a nice easy run.

Wednesday - 20 miles. I had 24 on the schedule. The air temperature was almost zero outside. I hit the hamster track again with 4 gels. Plan was to fuel up every 5 miles. Miles 1-15 were nice and easy. I got a little bored. I picked up the pace a bit. 16, 17, and 18 were great. At 19 my left hamstring started pulling and throbbing a little. By 20 I was getting hot poker jabs of pain in my hamstring which put a cord of fear in me. My left glute and my lower back were killing me too. I stopped after 20. I've come too far this training cycle to risk injury. Admittedly, I felt pretty defeated going home without those last 4 miles.

Thursday - Rest. I spent the day taking my daughter to the orthodontist, scheduled a massage, then spent a couple hours at work in the evening, all the while hoping my legs would recover well.

Friday - Unplanned rest day. I had planned to run 12 miles. My legs still felt fatigued when I woke up. The next week was suppose to be a drop down week but I switched things around so it will be another big week. I felt like I could run 12 miles, debated running 12 miles, but in the end decided to step back and give myself another rest day.

Saturday - 5 miles. I woke up with my legs feeling fine. Big sign of relief. I originally planned to get my run in and then get my massage. It's still freakin' COLD outside and for some reason my fitness center was closed. I seriously thought about finding a friend with a treadmill or even getting a Y membership (they were advertising no registration fees until 1/19/15) so I could run indoors. I hemmed and hawed until it was time for my massage. 60 minutes with Katie. Not your relaxing rub and buff massage. 60 minutes with Katie is 60 minutes of towel biting torture with her elbows and god-knows-what-else digging into your backside... but she really knows how to unknot your legs and glutes and will work on exactly what you want. She did my left hamstring, glute, and shoulder. Just what I wanted. Didn't even touch the right side. Once the torture session was over, I bit the bullet and ran outside.

Week 11 Total Miles: 42
3 good days, 1 "meh" day, 1 unplanned rest day, 2 rest days

I will be the first to admit I am a fair weather runner. For YEARS I would start running every year while we were on Spring Break in Florida - so the first week in April, then stop running sometime in October. I turned into a year round runner when I joined my fitness center where I could run on an indoor track.

So I switched around my training plan a bit because I couldn't take the cold weather anymore. Rather than do a drop down week in Week 12, then run my own Goofy - 13 mile pace run followed by a 26 mile long run - in Week 13, I decided to do the 13 and 26-milers in Week 12. Why? Because I found a warmer place to run. My niece lives in Charleston, SC (MUCH warmer than Indy right now!) The Charleston Marathon is January 17th. It sounded like the perfect supported long run. So I'll be off to Charleston at the end of Week 12 to do both my pace run and my long run. I won't be running the marathon for time but it will be my long run for the week. Plus, I'm hoping to meet up with one of my online Sole Sisters and catch up with my niece!