Obstacles

A few weeks ago, my trainer had me do dead lifts for the first time in a while. We even went up to 115 lbs! The next day (Thursday), I tried to do my usual 3.1-mile run on the treadmill, and my leg muscles were having none of it. I walked and jogged for 12 minutes before I gave up and switched to upper body strength exercises instead.

That Sunday, I went for a run outside. I did pretty well, although my time suffered since I kept stopping to take pictures, and at one point I had to stop and check a map to see where I was on these unmarked park trails. Not to mention HILLS! But over all, not horrible. 

Then the next week, my legs refused to cooperate. I tried to run again on Monday, and it was miserable. The muscles on the front/side of my lower legs were pissed off. They didn't hurt per se, but they were exhausted and burning. I pushed through the 3.1 miles, but it was not pretty. I ended up doing upper body strength for the rest of the week to give my legs a break.

After asking the other Team Drea folks, it sounds like I was running too far too often, considering how new to running I am. I was doing my 5K race distance three times per week, plus shorter running sprints in circuits with my trainer twice a week. I also don't think I was stretching enough before and after running, although my calves and quads seem fine, but maybe they're more resilient than these other muscles.

So my new plan is to do my race distance once per week, do shorter runs beyond that, and do some low impact cardio (bike?) in place of the excessive running. Before I run, I will bike or walk for a bit to warm up and stretch my legs. I also bought some compression leg sleeves to try. And after I run, I will stretch longer and continue to take my post-workout "pout baths" - a nice hot bath with Epsom salts and lots of pouting because I always feel like crap after exercising (where is this "high" everyone talks about? I feel quite the opposite). I also bought a $5 wooden rolling pin at the grocery store so I can roll those little muscles, and I'll start using my foam roller on the big muscles more often - just to keep them happy.

The weekend before last, I met my trainer on the greenway for my first run since my little break. We ran 0.5 or 0.25 miles at a time and then stopped every so often to do pushups or whatever other strength things - to sort of mimic the obstacle race. My legs did okay, but I was struggling with the cardio since I hadn't been running.  During the running part, I averaged about 11-minute miles.

Last Wednesday, my trainer had me do back squats for the first time in a long time, and I got up to 105 lbs. My legs were SO sore for days. On Thursday, I wanted to do my 3.1-mile run, so I did. My legs were pretty angry, and I'm still trying to get back on track with my pace, so it wasn't pleasant, and I averaged about 13-minute miles. I'm not making any pace progress, which is a little frustrating, but I'll keep pushing.  I know my trainer will have me do more back squats tomorrow, so I think I'll either do my 3.1 today, or maybe this weekend...

Also, I am noticing that the tempo of my music is affecting my running pace. I discovered that "Army" by Ben Folds Five is almost the right pace (maybe a little too fast, but close)... so now I'm trying to make a NEW playlist of music that is all about the same tempo. I think that will also help my pace and hopefully improve my overall level of misery during the run. And yay for the internet actually making the BPM music search super easy! I love the internet.

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