Looking down the barrel of 11 miles

First, a quick recap of the last few runs:

Saturday, according to the training program, we attempted a 4 mile run. We ended up running a little over 3, as a complication of joint inflammation, lung issues, and the addition of my new CamelBak (which we had to repeatedly refit). Pace was about 12:10, much much lower than either Matt or I would have predicted.

Monday, we tucked in a 30 minute run where we covered about 2.6 miles at a pace of 11:32 (the fastest we've run in about two weeks). My lungs had gotten so bad by Monday evening that I had to use my bronchitis inhaler before we left; I'm really really glad I did. My breathing was still extremely ragged and halting even AFTER using the inhaler. The biggest issue I had was with tightness in my hips; it wasn't so much pain as fatigue and diminished range of motion, but it was still very upsetting. I also had some issues with my right shin at the very beginning, although they subsided after about 10 minutes. I'm still concerned about the shin issues, namely that I might develop a stress fracture if I'm not careful. All those concerns aside, I was glad just to finish this one.

For Wednesday's run, we're hoping to take advantage of this week's cooler weather and run around a bit on the UT Tyler trails. Saturday's run will be a goal distance of 11 miles, so it would be great to get a break from the roads for a bit.

Just a reminder to myself and my cutie husband: we've got to sign up for the race!

Redemption: A Joyful Run (Part II)

(Did you miss PART I?)

Monday's run went well... really, really well. Not only was it comparatively cool, which allowed us to run at a consistent pace of 10:49 (yeehaw!), but I maintained a great attitude throughout.

We made it a fartlek run (Swedish term for "speed play", or interval training), which you can learn more about from Coach Jeff Galloway here. Matt and I took turns on the cross streets picking a distant landmark to run to at a quicker pace. Running fast is one of my weaknesses, so I've really got to work on it. Fortunately, fartlek runs are AWESOME and FUN for me. On top of training my body to run fast and allowing me to run in child-like glee, fartlek workouts foster great camaraderie.

Matt likes them because he can break out of the slow pace we normally run; he also enjoys challenging me to defy my own expectations. We had a lot of fun, and Matt frequently expressed how proud he was of my performance. I won't lie, I felt pretty dang good.

We finished really strong, and managed to get home before 10:00pm. I'm still feeling the excitement today, but I'm also feeling a bit of tenderness in my shins (from Saturday) and hip connectors. Hopefully, I can stretch and work out the tightness before Wednesday's run.

The plan for this week (week 2) :

Monday: 30 min run (speed work, Azalea district)
Wednesday: 30 min run (I don't know what we'll do here... a regular run?)
Saturday: 4 mile run (East Texas Striders' Half-Marathon clinic, which is scheduled for a 3 mile run unless I can find someone else to run the last mile with me)