Week 12 - Chicago Marathon Training
Last week's training went great from a running perspective (didn't get in as much yoga as I wanted to)! I ran pretty relaxed and easy paced as planned, but I had minimal pain and hit my mileage goal (34 miles total). The Nike Run Club run on Saturday was a lot of fun and I met some awesome new runners and ran in a new place, and I got to meet a fellow Pro Compression and Garmin Ambassador at the Long Beach Marathon Fun Run on Thursday. Overall, a stellar week in training and running.
I got to meet Ivie! She's a pro compression and Garmin ambassador too!
I say I ran with minimal pain because while my ankle felt so much better, my back got a weird tweak in it while I was lifting weights on Wednesday after my run. I was supposed to do a kettle bell workout, but decided to lift some free weights and stretch after my 7 miler. As I was doing a single leg dead lift (a great move to not only strengthen your hammies, but your ankles), I felt a pain to the left of my spine. My back is usually a little sore and my muscles are tight because I sit in an office chair all day, but it felt weird. I applied a heat pack that night and some Salonpas, but strangely it felt like my bone was hurt instead of my muscle. I thought it might be a displaced disk, so I took it really easy at the run on Thursday night. Afterwards, I slathered on more Salonpas. While the pain was gone on Friday when I woke up, I thought it was a good idea to take a rest day. I'm heading to the PT today and will ask her to give me some exercises to help alleviate and avoid this again.
Thursday night fun run with the Grvl Crew!
As I was putting together my schedule for Week 12 last night, I struggled with how to begin incorporating speed back into my workouts. Getting back into speed work is the most difficult part of every training cycle for me because it's hard, painful, and sometimes discouraging. To be doing it after an injury is even more difficult because I'm scared. So here's how I'm easing back into it:
Week 12 Schedule:
Monday: 4 miles + Strides + Kettle Bell
Tuesday: 8 mile progression (2 @ 8:30, 2 @ 8:00, 2 @ 7:45, 2 @ 7:30) + Yoga
Wednesday: 6 recovery + Kettle Bell
Thursday: 7 aerobic (8:30 pace) + Strides + Yoga
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 14 miles
Sunday: Cross train (Spin or Yoga)
If the 8 mile progression run on Tuesday goes well, I'll plan on doing a 14 mile progression run on Saturday. If the 8 miler tears me up, I'll do the 14 miler at a steady aerobic pace. I'm looking forward to amping up training and taking all of the things I've learned over the last few weeks on my own and through my physical therapy sessions to make this training cycle successful. I'll plan on sharing some awesome stretches and recovery work with you all over the next few weeks too.
J
