Heartland Series Training Week 11 (it's almost GO time)

While I feel like I am slowly getting back on track and the pain in my foot is getting less with each passing day, I am still being very careful about everything, at least until after this series is done.  There may be no PR for me this spring, and I am okay with that.  I just want to be able to complete my third year of this series, get my super cute swag, and be on my way to my next goal in the fall.  Here is how the week went down!

Monday:  4 miles planned.  Wow, my quads and hammies were sure thanking me for the lack of hill training I got accomplished this training cycle.  I ended up doing a walk/ run method, because my right leg was KILLING me.  I would walk a tenth of a mile and run 9 tenths.  Probably a good thing for all of us, because Deuce hasn't been out in over a month and was kind of dragging.  Had tony snap a pic of us as we ran by the house.  The wind was kicking out of the south.  I am so over the wind now.  Seriously though, remind me of these nice comfortable temps and cooling wind when I am bitching about the 100 percent humidity at 4 am in the morning will ya!  4 miles done.

Tuesday:  Planned Strength:  Okay first off, this was the first day in a LONG time that I didn't take any anti inflammatories.  I am still sore, but it is kind of like a minor bruise now.  I so hope I am done with this stupid foot injury.  I am ready to be able to do speed work and a more wider variety of strength exercises that utilize my foot behaving.

I look loopy in this pic but I LOVE stella's expression!  Trying to figure out our selfie stick

Wednesday:  Planned 6 miles.  Woke up in the morning with bad right hip pain.  I iced, cursed, stretched and prayed all day.  I thought about taking a rest day, but oddly enough, as with all of my injuries, if i run, it feels better.  Maybe someone should bottle up my endorphins and sell them as pain relievers?  :) My right hammy is still tight, but my quad seems to have calmed down now.  I ended up doing 5 with my running partner and stella.  When we got done, she showed me a stretch her chiro has her do for hip issues, and it seemed to really, really help loosen everything up in there.   More ice and more advil before bed, and lots of praying that this will be a short lived problem.  I am less than two weeks away from the start of the Heartland Series, and I just need to make it through so I can give my body some down time to completely heal! 5 miles done.

On a side note, I am testing out some new shirts for a good friend of mine who does custom t shirts and tanks for runners, along with many many other products.  Even though this tank is super long on me, I LOVE it!!!  Super soft, super wicking, and I love the color!  I will let you know when she has some in her store, because you have to have one!  Visit http://www.gypsyrunner.com/ now to check out all of the super cute stuff she carries!

Thursday:  Glorious rest day.  Woke up with half the pain I had the day before, which put a smile on my face.  This too shall pass or so I hope.  Much stretching, icing and adviling done:)

Friday:  Planned 5 miles.  This run was a big pile of SUCK!  The wind was blowing 24 mph from the NNW.  I thought i could beat it by planning a clever route, and then have my hubby come pick me up.  Well, I had to head west for about a mile in what I thought was a protected area but ended up just running into a wall of wind.  Then it started raining this needle like rain that HURT!  Various parts of my body hurt throughout the run including my stupid hip, hammie and foot even.  I just ignored everything and finished (i am stupid remember). 5 miles done.

I had called my hubby with about half a mile to go to come and pick me up and he miss interpreted where I was so I ended up stopping at 5 and walking till he finally found me.  I was freezing cold, couldn't feel my hands and my legs which were in shorts were almost blue. I had totally misjudged the sunny weather and had NOT dressed warm enough for the wind.  Lesson learned.  Back to the drawing board on my hip.  My massage next week can not come soon enough.  Is this just part of getting old?

Saturday: Planned rest day.  Well you know how that goes, I have a 3 almost 4 year old son that never lets me really rest.  We had planned on going to the local library and to the little local zoo.

We ended up going to the library, zoo, sonic playground and insect zoo.  I had this grand vision that he would go to sleep at 7 if I kept him up and going all day, and I would have a saturday night to myself.  Instead he was up past 11 pm!!!!  That is without a nap at all as well.  I need to bottle his energy and drink it for sure!

Sunday:  Planned 10 miles.  The plan was to get up early, get 4 in while the wind wasn't as bad and the temp was lower, and then join up with my running partner to do her 6 to get my total 10.  I couldn't go to sleep to save my life saturday night.  I tossed and turned and was exhausted, but not sleepy.  I finally got up around 11:30 and took a melatonin, and went downstairs to see if sleeping in the guest room would work.  I think I finally went to sleep around midnight, but when the alarm went off in the morning, I hit snooze.  I finally got up in time to do a quick 1.5 before meeting up with Mel, which means I had to do another 2.5 after we were done.  It was already hot and very windy, and I didn't take water, which was STUPID.  I was sweating super salty and feeling slightly dehydrated the whole run.  I hate carrying a bottle or wearing a vest, but it really is the smartest thing to do when the temps get around this high (80).  Also, even though I have lived in KS since 1999, this year, the burning is really killing my respiratory system.  I was full of snot the whole run (the entire state was burning yesterday and last night due to no wind), and couldn't really get a good deep breath.  This run definitely wasn't a confidence builder for the upcoming series of halfs,  but my hip mostly behaved and let me finish.  10 miles done.








Total miles: 24

Overall, other than my hip being a jerk, my runs were almost like being back to normal.  I have an appointment to see the bringer of pain Tuesday, and am sure he can fix me up.  I am still stretching and icing, but trying to wean off of advil.  I have been on some sort of NSAID for almost two months now and that is not good.  I am getting super excited about my upcoming races, even if there is no possibility of PR.  I want to have fun, meet some new friends, and just enjoy some races.  Am thinking about shifting my A race to this fall and putting the ultra on hold till next year.  There are several really nice halfs in KS and MO that I haven't done in the fall, so that might be a better idea than trying to force an ultra.  I also want redemption on the Konquer the Konza 25K.  It landed me in the emergency room last time and I want to finish it, better my time, and recover smart.  I am keeping an open mind and not making any decisions as of yet. 

Have a great week y'all and see some of y'all at Rock the Parkway next week!  Don't forget to visit gypsy runner's booth at the expo!