Week One on My Own Training Plan

I've worked out a potential training schedule for the next few weeks with a few key goals in mind:

1. Build up mileage
2. Do it slowly so that shins don't hurt
3. Strengthen leg muscles so that muscles problems don't become injuries

Mostly what this means is that for the next few weeks, there won't be much speed work going on. I'll be putting a lot of slowish miles to build up a base and avoid ripping my legs to shreds with fast work (i.e. no races). I'll be building up mileage by week as well (from 15-20 in the next month or so). The third part of my plan involves doing "hill sprints" which are basically very short (8 sec) all-out sprints up a steep hill to build up leg strength. I'm also focusing more on stretching and doing strengthening exercises on the days I don't run. I'm going to keep an eye on how things go for the next few weeks and see what progress gets made and what adjustments should consequently be made.

I was really angry with myself last night: when icing my legs, I somehow frost burned the left one. I have this nice raised red burn (that seems to be fading now, thankfully) marring my left shin. Remember how I was discoursing about my legs and revealing how vain I am about them? There's an episode in Anne of Green Gables where Anne, hoping to get rid of the freckles on her nose, ends up accidentally turning it black. This is the ultimate shame for her since her nose is her one feature she is proud of. That's like what happened to me. I was vain about my legs and now I've got this unholy burn slashed across them. That should teach me.

And it's not just the appearance that bothers me; I mean, how dumb do you have to be to burn yourself with ice???