Surf’s Up 5k…

Didn’t go as well as I had hoped for.

A number of things contributed to a sort of sucky race, I will be glad to put behind me, however one great thing did come out of it.

My brother contacted my best friend who secretly gave him my race info, and he sneakily drove 3 hours in the wee hours of the morning Saturday, registered for the race, and knocked on my door just an hour before race time! I had no idea he was even thinking about coming down to run with me, and was so surprised happy tears sprang from my eyes as soon as I saw him. Could a girl ask for a better brother? Probably not!

Now onto the actual race. It was cold, windy, and rainy!  I did get a bit warm while running but due to the wind and rain did not need to take any layers off. About a mile in my shin splints started to act up! This slowed me way down. I was really frustrated because it was hard to keep running when my shins felt like they would break if I took another step. I think being frustrated only made things worse. I had anxiety and was mad at myself with every passing minute because I knew I wasn’t going to PR. Despite all this, my brother stayed with me and kept telling me that all that mattered was that I finish, which I know he’s right, but I really wanted that PR time.

All and all though, I didn’t do as badly as I feared I would. We crossed the finish line together with a time of 36:45 only about 4 minutes off my goal time.

Looks like it’s back to training and kicking my shins into shape so they listen next time I tell them to stop hurting….

Any suggestions for what to do to prevent shin splints???

Pasta Party!

I used to be on the rowing team, in high school and college. In high school every Friday night in the spring rowing season, the whole team would gather at someone’s house and everyone brought a dish to eat. They were called pasta parties. I’m sure more sports than just rowing have pasta parties, but I have only ever been to rowing parties.

Anyways the point of a pasta party is team bonding, I guess, and also  carb loading before a race. I am lucky enough that I have a friend from my rowing team in high school that lives close by still and also happens to have a race tomorrow. Since we will both be running 5ks tomorrow morning we decided to have our own little pasta party this evening. I am bringing the pasta and she is making some delicious sauce.

I am so nervous for my 5k tomorrow. I know I shouldn’t be, I have been training (well as much as I can, weather and shin splints permitting). I guess my biggest worry is that I won’t PR. I think I will really do nothing but worry until I cross the start line. Last race that’s how it was too. I just go into shear panic standing and waiting for the race to start and then once I started running I just followed the race plan I made for myself and got into my groove.

Speaking of grooves, I really need to decide on my playlist. I have been having this love/hate relationship with my running music lately. I thought that because I only listen to my running music when I run, that it would keep me motivated, but if my mood or whatever shifts a bit, I sometimes want to change the music. I think I have had the same running playlist for too long now, but I don’t know what else I want to put on there. I have debated just using Ellie Goulding’s “Run Into the Light” playlist, specifically made for running by Ellie. There is another one she made with Nike, that is her second album remixed for running, the only thing is while I have listened to it before , and like all the music, I have never run with it, but maybe that’s a good thing. I hate knowing what song is coming, or having predictable music when I’m running. I need to be surprised.

Here is the link for “Run Into the Light” on YouTube. 

Here is the link to Halcyon Remixed from Nike.

On my race plan for tomorrow, I took a page out of my rowing book. I think running and rowing strategies are a lot alike, more than I originally thought. Don’t get me wrong the two sports are completely different but race plans could work similarly for both. I have heard people say you shouldn’t start fast, but I find that with my adrenaline pumping it’s hard to start at a comfortable pace, so I sart out going a bit fast, and then wait for the adrenaline to calm down a bit, and settle into my groove. Then at set intervals, usually every half mile, I push myself and try to pass a few people. My rowing coach in college used to call these little moves “gut checks”. At first I thought it was a weird way of saying it, but it does really get you going again when in your head you amp yourself up for it. At the halfway point That is the big gut check! It’s more than just a small push, I make a huge push at that halfway point. Leading up to it I just say to myself “it’s gut check time! Time to show them and myself what I have.” It’s a good way for me to get myself mentally ready for what I’m about to do. Then it’s back into the pace I have set for myself, until the finale. The last quarter mile or so is when you unleash any energy you have been conserving. I thought before that the end would be the worst part, when you can see the finish line, but haven’t yet crossed it. But NO, the end is the best part! When I see that finish line get closer with every step I take it pushes me to get there that much faster.

So now it’s time to go worry for the rest of the day, then have some pasta and get a good night’s sleep (yeah right). Right, lots of water today! Staying hydrated is key, to taking in carbs tonight.

Shin Splints…OUCH!

“Shin splints, the catch-all term for lower leg pain that occurs below the knee either on the front outside part of the leg (anterior shin splints) or the inside of the leg (medial shin splints), are the bane of many athletes, runners, tennis players, even dancers. They often plague beginning runners who do not build their mileage gradually enough or seasoned runners who abruptly change their workout regimen, suddenly adding too much mileage, for example, or switching from running on flat surfaces to hills.

 The nature of shin splints, also known as medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), most often can be captured in four words: too much, too soon.”

It has been really cold outside the past few mornings, so I took my running inside on the treadmill. The problem with that is my shins hate the treadmill for some reason. I do normally feel shin splints coming on when I feel like I’m pushing myself a little to hard day-to-day, but in just two days of running on the treadmill (the normal pace, and amount) IT HURTS!  I have been trying to take the necessary precautions, stretching before and after, icing them after I run, and taking ibuprofen to stop any swelling. But still, they seem to bother me almost as soon as I start running on the treadmill. So today after a light jog accompanied by a lot of shin pain, I switched over to the elliptical.  I would much rather just get in the cardio and avoid the pain. I’m not sure if my legs are just not used to the treadmill (not that I want them to be, I hate running inside) but I am afraid to find out. I don’t want to keep running, and cause damage, I would rather just cross train on the bike, elliptical, followed by some core strengthening. 

More information on shin splints from Runners World