Friday, April 1, 2016

Pittsburgh Half Marathon Training: Week 7

The theme for this week of training seemed to be form.  Learning to control my legs and not just let them flop around like a a fish on dry land is something I need to occasionally remind myself.  Running has so many more aspects than just "left, right, left, right, etc."


Monday: 4 Miles - I'd say my body had a complete and total meltdown during these miles.  From the moment I started running, I just didn't feel right.  The longer I ran, the more every joint and muscle ached and hurt.  I kept trying to push through, but things seemed to only worsen with each step.  I ended up resorting to walking the last half mile of the workout just to make the pain stop.  I was legitimately concerned that I may have developed an overuse injury.  The moment I got home, I pulled out the ice pack and compression socks and just prayed that no serious damage was done.

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 5 Miles - I was hesitant to run these miles after Monday's fiasco.  However, I reigned in the speed and just moved steadily along.  I only felt a twinge of pain here and soreness there, which were reassuring signs.  Things seemed pretty good after the workout was finished, though I did do some extra icing and stretching just in case.

Thursday: 6 Miles - I continued my trend of running easy during this workout and was pleased with the results.  Normalcy was returning to my legs as I kept reminding myself that even though I was going slowly, I was still going.  I call that progress!

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 10.1 Miles - About a month ago, I had signed up for the "Just A Short Run" race and chose the 8.1 mile distance, since the other options were either too short (5K) or too long (half marathon or 30K).  It turned out this decision worked in my favor!  In looking at my training plan, I was set to do 10 miles, meaning I had to fit in 2 miles either before or after the race.  Deciding on the former, I tried my best to time my 2 miles to end near the start line and when the race was to begin.  While not working out exactly as planned, I only had to wait a few minutes until the race started.  I tried my best to not be sped up by the crowd and just treated the race as a training run.

Sunday: Rest Day

To survive some of my runs this week, I began reciting mantras to help relax and keep focused.  They work surprisingly well!  I may just find a mantra for each of my runs to keep the positive thoughts going and remember the basics of running.

Happy Running!
Sean

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