So How’s The Shin…

Well, I’m fairly certain now it’s is muscular rather than an sfx, otherwise, running 16 miles without pain would probably not be doable. However it’s still a cranky asshole the 24 hours following a run, making it difficult to run two days in a row without paranoia that I’ll injure myself for real. Likely, I can run two days in a row without pain, but I don’t like the idea of starting a run if I can push the spot on my shin and it’s tender. So it’s left me in a situation where I’m running 3 days a week.

I took 6 full days off at the end of August. I am now 2 weeks post run-break and last week looked like this:

Monday (Labor Day): Worst spin class in the history of the world. We essentially got yelled at us for an hour (not exaggerating, another woman moved to the bike next to me about 30 minutes in trying to get away from the loudness) and told to add tension without any real direction, instruction, or explanation. I basically ignored her. At the end, she gave us some spiel about “you get what you put into it” in a condescending manner (which, not to be too snarky, but it’s not like she was Bob Harper, in super fit shape doling out a scolding). I wanted to tell her that I had run 12 miles the day before so I was going to put in the effort I felt was appropriate for me. Instead I just left and decided to never go to her class again.

Tuesday: Hottest spin class in the history of the world. Apparently the Kearney Mesa LA Fitness does not have good AC going on in their cycle room. But the teacher was excellent (I got my ass kicked pretty well with good instruction and appropriate periods of rest in between songs). And the bikes were also not from 1990 like my regular location.

Wednesday: 8 hot miles after work around Lake Miramar in my Mizuno Elixirs.

Thursday: 5:30am spin class on old ass bikes (I can’t wait for them to upgrade that location)

Friday: 8.3 miles in the neighborhood in my Brooks Launches. Loving these shoes and extremely bent that Brooks is discontinuing them.

Saturday: Yoga at Lululemon with Nicole wherein I also bought a pair of Speed Shorts (yes, I can’t believe I did that either. $54 for shorts. The fit is great, though).

Sunday: 16 miles with Nicole (who did 20+ total with hills from her house. Badass) in roughly 2:26 (haven’t downloaded the Garmin data). It was toasty out there. We stopped twice to refill at fountains after draining 30 ounces from our belts. I think I went through 50-60 ounces for 16 miles. I have since peed only twice and it’s 3+ hours since I finished. Sweaty and hot. It had better not be this sweaty and hot for Wineglass.

Forgot to mention that little tidbit – that I’m running marathon in 3 weeks. So, normally, I would probably not be running 16 miles if I was trying to completely rehab my leg, however, I have a marathon scheduled. It’s definitely NOT going to be a PR effort. However, it’s back East and the plan is to visit my husband’s granny in PA and then drive on over the MA to visit my grandparents. And the race sounds like fun one, so I don’t want to miss it. So, it’ll just be an “eh” effort marathon. Whatever. I will do 18-ish next weekend with a two week taper and that will have to do.

The 16 miles today felt totally fine. Granted, I was starting to feel pretty pooped towards the end but I think the weather had partly to do with that. It definitely is not ideal to be only running 3 times a week; but it’s keeping my leg happy, and cycle class has proven, again, to be an awesome alternative.