Weekend Long Run, Monday Recovery

Saturday Long Run
Distance: 12 miles
Total Time: 1:40:41
AP: 8:23

On Saturday Jen and I slept in a bit before heading out for our long run at Crystal Springs. Jen was planning on running ten and I was going to do 12 so we started out and ran together until around mile four. At this point I put on my headphones and took off on my own so I could run at a quicker pace. Since I have a 14 miler next weekend and a ten miler the weekend before the race I wanted to run the second half of this run at a fast pace since I probably won’t have another opportunity for a fast long run (next weekend will be long and steady and the weekend after that will be an easy long run). After we split off from each other the trail climbs at a steady incline until reaching the turn around point at six miles. You can go further along the trail at that point and here it is an actual dirt trail, not a paved path like is for the rest of the time. After turning around I had the downhill for two miles followed by rolling hills for the last four. My splits for those six miles came in as follows: 7:51, 7:37, 7:45, 7:31, 7:28, and 7:25; by the time I was on mile 12 I knew I had been pushing myself way too hard. My legs were getting sore/tired and I was very happy to stop at the end.

Overall I was very pleased with the run; I was able to run some fast miles on the second half of the run and my shin did not bother me at all. The next day my legs were a bit sore, especially my quads, then last night I noticed my shin muscle was a bit tight and sore. I spent some time massaging and stretching it out in an effort to loosen it up for this mornings run; I’m not sure if it helped in the long run but it definitely felt good when I was doing it.

Monday Morning Recovery
Distance: Four miles
Total Time: 36:16
AP: 9:04

This morning I pulled myself out of bed, threw on my gear, and headed out the door for four easy miles. I wore my heart rate monitor for the first time on this run, my average bpm was 135. I have to admit that I have no idea what that means yet other than my heart was beating an average of 135x per minute during my four mile run. I started off slow but still noticed a bit of tightness in my shin for the first two miles; I kept it at a nice easy pace for the whole run and it never became enough of a problem for me to stop. I started out with 9:47 for mile one and the next three came in at 9:06, 8:49, and 8:34.

My shins are still a bit tight so I will go for a short walk later this morning then stretch them really well. Tomorrow morning I have eight on the schedule so I want to try and get my legs feeling a bit better before then.