Normally I post every run and comment on overall cross training by the end of the week. To be honest this week was my first ‘off’ week in training. With a crazy schedule this week I knew my only run options for the week were Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday.
Tuesday I did my interval run instead of the 45 minute run. This week we are fighting some insane humidity in the Midwest. We have been at least at 90% humidity since Sunday & it has made the running (or desire to) a little rough!
From the very start of my interval run, something felt off. I kept my intervals more around an 8:00 pace instead of the 7:45 I was doing last week. I blamed it on the humidity but as well get to later it really was not that at all.
I was challenged by a good friend for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Needless to say I very much enjoyed it in the heat/humidity we had that day!
After a walk to dry off with my little man, something truly felt off. By about 10pm I was not feeling good at all and it turned out I had a stomach bug. That threw the rest of my week off & explained why I was struggling so bad through intervals!
I wound up skipping my 45 minute run. This is the first run that I have skipped throughout the last 7 weeks. I was frustrated but with scheduling & rain storms there was no possible way I was going to get it. I finally had to convince myself that at the end of the day I will not turn around and say “I couldn’t do a half at my best because I skipped one 45 minute run.”
For cross training this week I have been heavily enjoying Hip Hop Abs. I am getting up there with the coordination and really feeling like it’s been a good workout. I’ve tried a few different ones so I’ve started to settle into which ones I like and which ones I’m not as much of a fan of.
I won’t lie, it is making me want to try Insanity for a workout this winter…. yikes!
Friday night I was completely styling with my awesome new Zensah Compression Socks
The last run this week was our long run. This is where things get crazy. I decided to do a mix of last weeks run and this weeks run. Instead of doing the 1:55 run (somewhere around 12-13 miles) I decided it was better to take another week around 10 miles so I could not be too far into my distance this far out from the half. I believe my training plan is build around a 10:30-11:00 mile and at the time we chose it did not think that I would even be close to the 9 minute mile time that I am at. My goal today was to get around an hour and 40 minutes and hopefully 11 miles.
All weekend I have been staring at the weather channel and officially have been banned from having it on my phone. This morning I wokeup and it told me this:
I knew I needed to get moving when at 6am we were already up there in the humidity!
Here is where the struggle came in again. I’m fighting with my quads and hamstrings the last two weeks. They have not felt good at all partway into my long run and today they cramped up pretty bad. I stopped to stretch for a bit and tried to figure out why they would be causing this many problems.
I felt a little worse after stretching so decided to stop around an hour and 32 minutes. I still managed 10 miles but had a much slower pace today and was kind of frustrated with myself.
After an ice bath when I got home I reached out to a few running friends for help. Both of the ones I talked to suggested no stretching before the run & lots of rolling. After today I know my roller and I will be best friends this week. The stretching thing was news to me.
So I’m reaching out to my 3 (if I’m lucky?!) followers, do you stretch before you run or just after you run? Will my legs love me 1000 times more if I don’t stretch first?