This week was a rest week as part of my two on, one off training schedule.  So, my long for the week was only 8 miles.  I decided that because it was a shorter distance than I am used to for my long run, I would use it as a tempo run.    After starting off with a 4 mile warm up, I hit the halfway point and kicked it into gear. I dug deep and was able to knock out 3 miles at 7:29, 7:34, 7:32.  While not my greatest 1 mile splits, I am happy with them because the snow/slush made it harder than normal to keep a steady pace without losing my footing. 

The fast 3 miles allowed me to negative split the run with a 31:45 (7:54 pace) on the out and a 30:35 (7:37 pace) on the back.

On top of my great run, I took a step this week to keep myself safe on my long runs and bike rides – I bought a RoadID.  Steve in a Speedo recently posted a 20% coupon code (good until March 15th).  Head on over there if you are interested and give him some love.  The code saved me $6 off the final price.

I ended up going with the WristID Sport model in black.  The website was very easy to use and had a nice customization area to see exactly how your choices would print.  It should arrive on Monday or Tuesday.  I am excited to get it, but I am hoping that I never actually have to use it!

7 is my lucky number.  Yes, I know, how unique.  However, 7 has been a big number in my life.  My birthday is July 7th (7/7).  I got married in July 2005 – the sum of the digits in 2005 = 7.  I got my dog Spunky when I was 7 years old.  Etc. Etc. The one thing I have never liked about 7 is 7 mile runs.  I don’t know exactly why, but I have never liked running 7 miles.  6 miles is fine, 8 miles is good too.  I think part of the problem is that I have never had a good 7 mile course. 

That changed yesterday.  I finally found an awesome 7 mile route and I flew.  I did 7 miles in 53:24 for a 7:36 pace.  All of my miles came in under 8:00 with my final mile coming it at a blazing 7:00 flat.  Not only did I have a fast run, but I was completely pain-free.  No calf pain.  No hamstring pain.  Let’s hope this streak keeps up.

Today, was a light day for me.  And it couldn’t have come at a better time.  I had a busy day at work and my stomach was upset all day long.  I did manage an hour on the trainer this evening after my stomach settled down a bit, but kept an easy pace.

Tomorrow, I am hoping to do a swim and run.  Because this is a lower mileage week than last week, I am planning on doing some more speed workouts during my runs.  I’ll be careful to listen to my body though and back off if I start experiencing any soreness.

Finally, Anne at Iron Dreams has a giveaway going on (see details here).  The giveaway includes some Tri-Swim gear including shampoo and conditioner to help defeat that post swim chlorine smell.  Also, cruise on over to Tri-Swim’s website if you are in need of a good swim workout.  They have a couple dozen different workouts available for free.

First off, a huge thanks to everyone who expressed concern, gave advice, and sent “good vibes” my way on overcoming my calf pain.  The general consensus was to foam roll, ice and rest, so I did a little of everything.  I foam rolled on both Wednesday and Thursday along with doing some extra stretches.  I also have been icing my calf almost constantly as well.  (Side Note: I got an ice bag (two actually) for Christmas and it has made icing so much more pleasurable.  Gone are the days of leaky Ziploc resulting in wet pants.  Highly recommend one.)   I even did rest a bit – sort of.  Thursday was supposed to be a 4 mile run and an hour big ride.  I did still run, but only did about 3 miles.  I was relatively pain free and mainly wanted to get out and see how it felt.  I skipped the bike ride entirely, but that was more due to an emergency session of online Mario Kart Wii than the injury.  Yes, I have my priorities in order.

As for my run today, I am happy to announce that I completed all 21 miles pain free.  Well, at least I was free of any pain that was out of the ordinary for a 21 mile run.  Yes, my legs were killing me for the finale 5 miles or so, but they were just tired, not hurt.  My calf didn’t bother me at all the entire way.  Even now that I am done, it hasn’t even tightened up.  My hamstring is a bit tight, but I guess I’ll just have another appointment with the foam roller tonight and work it out.

Overall the run went fairly well.  I got a later start than I wanted (this seems to be becoming the norm) and headed out at 10:00.  My original plan was to do loops around Reeds Lake.  This way, I would be able to stay relatively close to home in case my calf acted up.  On my first lap, I ditched my water bottle in some bushes so that I didn’t have to carry it on the first loop.  I wouldn’t need it right away any ways. 

After finishing the first loop and picking up my water bottle, I decided to change up my planned route because I didn’t have any pain.  And, I realized that laps around the lake were going to get boring really quickly.  So, I ventured out and headed towards downtown, did a loop around Aquinas College and a loop through Calvin College before finishing with a second loop around the lake.

 
I definitely got slower as I progressed, but I’ll take it.  I am a little disappointed in the two miles that came in at over a 9 minute pace though.

It was actually pretty a good route.  The sidewalks were still covered in sloppy snow, but the roads were clear so I stuck to running on them.  Not too bad considering we just got 10 inches of snow on Wednesday.

After I got home, I immediately took a snow bath for my legs.  I didn’t have any ice again, but had plenty of snow.

I followed that by gorging myself with left over pasta and a gigantic chocolate milkshake.  It really hit the spot.

I get to take a rest day tomorrow, which I desperately need.  I may still head up to the pool though because I missed my Wednesday swim.  That may sound like breaking the rules of a rest day, but sometimes swimming is almost more therapeutic than doing nothing.

Again, thank you to everyone for your well wishes and advice!

All of this run training is catching up to me and I am starting to feel some aches and pains.  I am really hoping that the aches go away quickly and don’t turn into full blown injury.  Right now, it is just soreness and not debilitating.

On Monday, as I finished my run, my right calf began to hurt.  It really didn’t affect my run and I actually had a great run despite the pain.  I finished 7 miles with 7:49 pace.  I even had a final mile of 7:16.  My calf just feels really tight – like after getting cramp.  I can walk pretty much pain free.  It is at its worse climbing stairs when I have all my weight on the one foot and even then it isn’t excruciating by any means.

I took Tuesday off from running per my marathon training schedule.  I did spend an hour on the trainer which seemed to help stretch out my calf.  I also did some stretching and core training.  I stuck to only upper body work with the weights to give the legs a rest.

I woke up Wednesday almost pain free.  It was still lingering, but much better.  My 6 mile run went fairly well.  I took it nice and easy.  I had a little bit of tightness at the beginning of the run, but it was nearly gone by the time I finished my run. 

Unfortunately, though, my calf tightened right back up about an hour after my run.

So, here I sit, finishing up some work while I ice my calf and hope that it heals quickly.  I’ve got 21 miles on the schedule for Friday and really don’t want to have to miss it.

Over the weekend we had weather in the low 40’s which not only melted most of the snow left on the ground, but also let me break out shorts for my run on Sunday.  It was actually pleasant enough out that Jennie and I were able to walk up to Big Bob’s Pizza in Gaslight Village to have lunch with her brother, his fiancé, and his room mate.

So much for our heat wave.  Today was back down in the 20’s with a single digit feels like temperature.  As I sat in my office, I was dreading my run as I watched the wind blow the snow all over the place.  I sucked it up and headed out around 4:00.  Even though it was still light out, I decided to go with the reflective gear because the blowing snow as reducing visibility and I didn’t want to become someone’s hood ornament.

It was slow going – especially into the wind – but it was a relatively good run. 

On top of running, I did a long swim today.  For my workout, I did:

800 yard warm up
3×300 yards (30 second rest)
200 yard kick
3×200 yards (30 second rest)
200 yard kick
3×100 yards pull (20 second rest)
100 yard cool down
3100 yards total

I stayed almost perfectly consistent on all of the intervals (5:10 for the 300’s, 3:30 for the 200’s, and 1:40 for the 100’s)which was the goal. 

Also, at the pool, I had a “small world” moment.  I found out that the husband of one of the women I swim with works at the same company as Jennie.  We are both regulars and see each other two to three times a week and chat while we wait for the lifeguards to get ready and didn’t realize it until today.  It is amazing how we are all connected in some way or anther.

As for my strength training, it is progressing nicely.  I absolutely love my new weights.  I am still hoping to find some good strength routines to mix things up though.  For now, I have just been doing a set from the 12 Week Triathlete book.  It takes me about 25-30 minutes to go through and I feel so good after doing it.

On the non running front, Jennie and I cleaned and repopulated our aquarium.  It turned out to be a pretty big project because I neglected cleaning it for so long.  We still need to get some new plants to replace ones that didn’t make it through the cleaning and I have to build a new hood because the old one finally bit the dust, but here it is.

Kind of hard to see all the fish, but there are: 4 Giant Danios, 4 Red Velvet Swordtails, 5 Tiger Barbs, and 1 Pelco (Algae Eater).  I will hopefully do a better job at preventive maintenance so it doesn’t get so bad this time.