Training Week - 6

This has been another pretty good week of training. Tuesday I did three miles but had some slight soreness in my shins. This didn't stop me from completing the mileage but I knew I had to listen to my legs before getting myself hurt again. After speaking with my brother-in-law, Brian, about his pre-workout routine, I decided to add some shin specific stretches to my warm up and this seems to have helped. I found these stretches in a Runner's World article at http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-241-290-291-529-0,00.html Wednesday and Thursday I was still a little sore but the stretching helped and I was able to complete the required mileage. Saturday was once again my long day and the weather turned in my favor. I was actually able to get outside for both my seven mile run and my cross training and I was equally excited to be able to use my Garmin 405 again. (This time I remembered to have it charged and ready). You can see my results below:

Seven & a half mile run: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/2036056
Eighteen mile ride: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/2050720

This being my first run outside in nearly six weeks I had almost forgotten how nice it is to be able to run in the fresh air. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy running in place on a moving belt while starring at the walls and listening to all of the random conversations taking place at the gym but I think I still prefer getting outside. I tend to go blank on the treadmill and I find that I am not even concentrating on my running. I just move my legs back and forth and wait for the time to be over. Outside is completely different and you never seem the exact same things twice. This time out was still a little more icy and snow covered than I expected but I welcomed the change of scenery. The first three miles were a little rough as I stopped at the end of each mile to stretch but by the end of the fourth mile I was feeling great and virtually pain free and was able to enjoy the rest of the run. Today I woke up feeling good and then looked at the weather and was happy to see the the forecasted rain had missed us and I knew I was going to head out on the bike. It was pretty windy and a little chilly but I was loving it! If you look at the Garmin mapping above you can see that I had a nice head wind for the first five miles but had that same wind to my back for several miles after that. I had a 5-7 mph difference between the two. Overall it was a pretty casual ride but again, it was great to get outside for a change.

This coming week I am looking forward to a rest day tomorrow and then will be doing a 3-5-3 Tuesday thru Thursday, rest on Friday and I will finish the week with a nine or ten mile long run depending on how my legs are feeling on Saturday. As long as the weather stays in the mid to upper twenties I will continue to run outside. I will keep my fingers crossed and hope for spring in the mean time.

-bgw