Shin Splits? Seriously?!

So somehow, despite having ran a 10k earlier this month and a half marathon a week ago without any problems whatsoever, I've ended up with shin splits. The only thing I can figure is the epic workouts at OTF this past week (during what was called "Hell Week") did me in. This has been a problem for me before during OTF workouts, and I've narrowed it down to the pounding I put myself through during the "Push Pace" and "All Out" efforts. Normally, no matter what type of running I do, whether it be a training run or race itself, I go at a pretty steady and (what some could consider) slow pace. When I amp it up for these bursts of high intensity however, I think my body isn't used to it, which is putting too much strain on certain areas. Regardless, I met up with some Landshark's this morning to do a run, but by 1.5 miles into the planned 4-miler, the bottom half of my legs were toast. My shins were hurting, my calves were tight, and I could muster little more than a shuffle on the way out, while walking most of the way back in. Fortunately, the two gals I was "running," with (Jen and Jenn, oddly enough) were okay with the slower pace and frequent walk breaks so that somehow made it better.

I'm trying not to be too concerned about this, but whenever I've felt this discomfort before after OTF I've switched it up to the bike to keep from feeling that impact. However, the bike is what I did during yesterday's session and I STILL managed this outcome. At this point I'm just hoping that it doesn't hamper anything going forward, and with a planned rest day tomorrow I'll at least get a little bit of a break before hitting it again Monday. My biggest worry is that I will have to either cut back on the amount or effort I put into my OTF workouts, which I really don't want to do at all since I have really come to love my sessions. I feel like it's such a great workout and calorie burn that to not give it the full effort would be cheating myself out of the potential workout.

You'd think after 10 years of running I would have had this all figured out by now and that my body would have been used to what I've put it through. Unfortunately, I guess today's run just goes to show you can never be too prepared and that anything can happen despite your fitness level.

Final stats: 4.08 brutal miles in 55:48, a 13:42 pace :(

Urban Bourbon Half Marathon

Went out with decent hopes today of getting a PR on this course. Didn’t have a great finishing time two years ago, had a decent finish last year, and considering all of my PR’s in 2014 I felt good about completing today’s 13.1, my 28th Half-Marathon in 10 years.

The weather was great at the start – 64 degrees and overcast with a small chance of rain. Unfortunately, I didn’t account for the humidity and instead of a tank top chose a t-shirt which made the race fairly warm just a few miles in. Luckily, it wasn’t long before a small sprinkle came along and cooled me off, so all was well on the course.

I started off with a 6:1 interval – something I haven’t done in a long time, and moved it down to a 4:1 just two miles in. The additional 2 minutes of running were a little much for me and the 4:1 was much more manageable. I felt great throughout most of the race, and was surprised to find myself running up the hills in the park rather than taking the walk breaks I had allowed for. Walking just takes that much longer, and as long as I kept at a slow and steady shuffle, I didn’t wear myself out much more than I would had I walked it.

Nine miles in I began to get more and more tired. This seems to be around the mile marker that I hit my wall in this distance race, but knowing that I’ve completed it so many times before, I trudged along and kept a slower, but still steady, pace. That is until about 10.5 miles in when I began to feel some tummy rumbles coming on. I seriously considered walking the last few miles, feeling that if I did much more than that I would be in some major GI trouble. I decided to do a new interval of running two blocks, walking one, which I kept up until mile 12. Considering the “finishing with a walk,” option came into my mind again, but left once more when I took that final turn back down Main Street with only 8 more blocks to go. At this point I was running just one block rather than two, anticipating the finish line just ahead.

As I crossed the line I heard the announcer call my name and felt so good to finally be done with this race. My official finishing time was 2:31:31 and, initially, I was kind of bummed about this time. However, after going over the finishing times of my prior half-marathon’s I’ve found that this is actually faster than my average of the past 10 years – good news. I guess I had been doing so well these past few years that I just anticipated that this would be at least a sub 2:25 race for me. But… I guess you can’t ALWAYS have a great race and I’m certainly not upset that I got out and completed more than what the majority of the City of Louisville did this morning.

Next order of business: Look into training plans for next year’s KDF mini as well as the Half Ironman races.

Looking Ahead

It’s been over a month since I’ve posted anything – mostly due to being super busy at work, taking a week’s long vacation (much needed) to Destin with the family, and honestly just not having much to report. I volunteered for Ironman Louisville when it went off on October 11th, and initially was concerned that this would cause some sad and guilty feelings for me, but for the most part it was a positive and fun time. In fact, it wasn’t until Jen and I got to the finish line to cheer people in and hearing the words “You Are An Ironman,” time and time again that it kind of sank in that this could’ve been me. Still, my decision to pull out two months before the race was a good one, and I am looking forward to some other upcoming races.

My 28th half marathon takes off tomorrow morning with the Urban Bourbon 13.1 miler. Although I haven’t done much long distance running since I stopped training for IMLOU, I have kept up my Orange Theory workouts 5-6 days per week, and did complete a 10k without any problems just a few weeks ago, so there is no concern there. I also signed up for the Polar Bear Grand Prix again this year to keep me motivated throughout the winter, and am planning to complete the Shelbyville Tri Series again – something I haven’t done in years. The Triple Crown is also paid and accounted for, as well as the Derby Half Marathon. And….. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on my second and third half Ironman races – Muncie and Ohio.

I feel like I have some unfinished business in Muncie for a few reasons. One being that my head was in such a stressed out place at the time, consumed with thoughts of IMLOU and my lack of confidence in completing the event. I felt this mind-f*ck seriously hampered part of my race and I want to see what I can do when I don’t have an enormous amount of stress hanging over me. Two, because I hurt my knee 6 miles into the run, I want to be able to redeem that leg of the race on faster, stronger, and more prepared stems this year. The race in Ohio is just a bit of a bonus since it was advertised as having a flat bike course and rolling hills run. This I can do, and being that it’s just 6 weeks past Muncie I’ll already be trained so I thought, “why not.”

I’m not yet sure what other fun races I will add to the calendar for next year. I definitely want to get in another couple of half marathon’s, and am hoping to find a decent team for the Bourbon Chase – I really missed doing it this year, and since I was in Destin it wasn’t even an option.

The depression I struggled with during my IMLOU training has all but subsided and I’m now thinking that it was mostly brought on by me psyching myself out about the race. I was always so down and negative on myself about my abilities, dreading training rides, and comparing myself to others that it started messing with my mind a whole lot more than I should have allowed it. That’s not to say there wasn’t some internal chemical stuff going on with my brain that also contributed, but I definitely see how my thinking didn’t help the situation much.

I still have people asking me if I’ll do an Ironman and I really don’t know. If I do, I’ve already decided it won’t be before 2017 and, even then, only if I’m a lot more physically and mentally prepared going into it. Either way, I do plan on enjoying the half Ironman races I have planned as well as my old reliable half-marathons that I LOVE!