I ran 18 miles yesterday. What did you do?

We were scheduled for an 18 mile long run this week. Usually we run our distance runs on Friday or Saturday morning but decided to run it on Wednesday night this week due to busy schedules. I was a little worried about running back to back (speed training was on Tuesday) and more importantly about running in the evening instead of the morning. After a little bit of stress and lots of consideration, we decided to go for it. We didn't get on the trail until after 6:00pm. The first couple of miles were harder than expected. We decided to add a couple of miles to the beginning of our run. We've never been that far south before and were a little unsure about the trails. On the 2nd mile we had to climb a pretty nasty hill. I was a little nervous--2 miles into the run and I was already feeling like I might not make it--we still had 16 miles to go. Luckily, we started feeling better soon after we made it up the hill. Around mile 12 the sun had gone down completely and it was starting to get dark fast. We both started to feel a little anxious. My cell phone started ringing around mile 14. By this point I was really starting to struggle and couldn't muster the extra energy to pull my phone out of my back-pack. I checked my watch. It was already 8:30pm. Muscle fatigue was setting in quickly and so was the darkness. Our 3rd to last mile was awful. We ran along a stretch of sidewalk without any lights. I didn't feel good about it but couldn't come up with another option. I said a little prayer and as soon as we came out of the darkness my husband pulled up to the side of the road in the car. He cheered for us and then turned the car around and handed us a flashlight. :) I had a feeling he would come. The last mile and a half of our run was pretty torturous. Multiple times I didn't think I was going to make it. I couldn't shake the fatigue. I spoke out loud, "You can do this." "Only 1.5 miles to go." I felt the tears/emotions choking me at the back of my throat. I quickly swallowed them back down. As we reached the final 1/2 mile we had to quickly decide if we were going to attempt the huge hill at the end or keep running straight in the wrong direction. We both decided the hill might finish us off and kept running straight. I looked down at my watch. "Only .25 miles to go," I declared. "Let's push it." That .25 miles lasted a lot longer than we expected it would. As soon as we stopped, I realized how many muscles were aching. We slowly limped back to the parking lot where our driver was waiting for us. My whole lower half felt numb. It felt like my legs didn't belong to me. I slowly made my way up the stairs to our apartment. I tried to stay on my feet to keep my legs moving. It was difficult. Nausea was setting in quickly. Once my daughter was in bed, my sweet husband stayed up with me. He brought me food, helped me stretch, and sat with me while I ate and waited for my mind and body to calm down before I fell asleep. The best thing about pushing your body to these types of limits is that it's hard in that moment but as soon as you finish it's easy to forget the pain/exhaustion. By next week, I'll be more than ready to do it again.

Marathon- Back to training

So far so good. Minor aches and pains but nothing too serious. I ice daily and do my best to keep up with my stretches. I'm praying that my tendon makes a full recovery. We started back running our old route last week. On Monday this week we ran 4.25 miles and shaved a couple of minutes off our total time from the week before. I'm thrilled. It's exciting to see our daily improvements. Next week we plan to increase the mileage to five miles and the week after we would like to be at six miles. We'll start the official marathon training at the beginning of February.

Guess what?

I think I'm back! I wasn't feeling good this morning so I put off my run. I finally decided to go around 11am after my little one fell asleep on the couch. The weather was perfect--60+ degrees with a nice breeze. I decided to take my old running route but just head back a little early. I felt a little achy when I first started but that quickly subsided once I got warmed up. It was wonderful. I feel like I'm on my way back to my old running self.

Stats

Total Distance: 2.5 mi
Calories burned: 233
Avg. pace: 8.27/mi
Avg. HR: 168bpm
Max pace: 6.57/mi
Max HR: 183bpm

Yep. I'm back!

2 more miles

2 more miles down. Lots more to go. I've still got aches and pains during my run. But oh how I lOVE to run.

Tuesday's run.

Today I felt like a runner. I only ran for 2 miles but it started out strong and I felt pretty good. I had some aches in my foot (kind of like someone was stretching it a little too far) but no real pain until the very end. I'm icing it right now. I hate icing but I am determined to recover from this injury as soon as possible.

Injury

more information here

Unfortunately I recently suffered a running injury. I was training for a 1/2 marathon when it happened. My training was going really well. I was running 3 days a week (sprints, tempo runs, and long runs) and cross training on my off days. My foot started hurting after a bike ride one day. I took a couple of days off and then started running again. I must have changed my running stance enough to put some unnecessary pressure on my tendon. As my training intensified, so did the pain. My foot was swollen and obviously inflamed. I tried to continue my training. I iced my foot regularly and tried to bike in place of running. The inflammation and swelling got bad enough that I was advised to discontinue running for 6 weeks. I have since resumed running but it has been a slow process so far. I've shortened my runs to 1-2 miles and have slowed down the pace considerably. I'm frustrated and bored. This is my road to recovery. Let's see if I can make it.