Consistency?

I'd like to try to be more consistent posting about my runs. I do keep a separate run log at www.runningahead.com with a few notes, but it might be nice to keep track more on a weekly perspective about how things are going. So with that in mind, here's a recap of last week.

I actually wanted the week before last to count as an "easy" week, since I only ran maybe 14 miles or so during the week. But I guess when you run a 7 mile trail run (and it's the first trail run race you've ever done), you can't really expect that your muscles are going to be too happy about it. Suffice it to say that it was NOT an easy week. I was pretty sore in the ankle area for a good 3 days. Nonetheless, I pushed ahead this last week with my goal of getting up to 20 miles a week (which I had originally hoped to do by the end of June) and ran 3 miles on Monday, 3 on Wednesday, 4 on Thursday and then...10 on Saturday. That makes 20 miles...and I meant to only run 18 this week. I only meant to run 8 yesterday. BUT due to some unforeseen construction around the zoo and and a navigational error involving Nakoma and Odana which do NOT intersect, NTS, I ended up running a good 2 extra miles. I was okay, but quite thirsty and tired by the time I got home.

Now let's talk legs.

I've been feeling the twinge (a terrible feeling) during every run for the past couple of weeks (minus the trail run. But that's a different kind of running. Not road running, like I normally do.) EVERY RUN. If I run slower than 10 min/mi I don't feel them much, but these days I've been feeling like a "comfortably slow" run should be at about 9 min/mi. So you can see the disagreement I and my legs have with each other. I have forced my legs into submission during every run, which means that:

For a run shorter than 4 miles, I am suffering with sore shins the entire run. By "suffering" I mean that I am thinking non-stop about them. I've noticed that my heart rate goes up when I am feeling them, which makes the run less "easy." But it's usually not a real "pain." It feels more like my legs are full of lactic acid, so maybe "ache" is a better way to describe it. In any case, it's not comfortable.

For long runs, once I pass 30-40 minutes, the legs go numb or stop hurting and I am free to ramp up the pace as much as I want. For good or ill. Yesterday, for instance, I was forced to hobble around at a 10 min/mi pace for the first two miles before they finally (blessedly) went numb and I was able to run atth something more like 8:30 min/mi for the rest of it. (With a maybe 7:30 min/mi last mile.) Until that happened, though, it was not a pleasant run.

Anyway, I'm finally going to bite the bullet and...take a little time off from running and cross train. I hate even thinking about taking time off from running, but I think it has to be done. I'm going to New York to visit my brother this week, and so spending time with him will force me to stop pounding the pavement as much as I usually do. I'd still like to get in 2 or so runs this week...but I might wait all the way until Wednesday for my next run, and then maybe do something easy Friday or Saturday. We'll see.

My legs are definitely my weak point. Once I get them beaten into shape, I'll be able to move forward with some more serious training. In the meantime, I guess it's biking for me! (Or swimming, if I get up the gumption to go to the Nat!)