Week in Review

~85 Miles
2 Doubles
1 Lifting Sess
1 Failed Workout
15 Mile Steady State Run @ 6:28 Ave

After going into this week excited with the prospect of nailing two solid workouts, my mind ended in a roller coaster.  On Tuesday morning, my IT band felt tight and I bailed on my 1000m repeat workout.  I immediately began doing my rubber band exercises every other day and got a massage.  My legs were garbage by the time Friday rolled around, and I couldn't barely sustain 6:20 pace for 6 miles.  My excitement from earlier in the week was hampered by the disappointment and the fact that I was struggling.  The worst part was that I did not know why I was struggling physically.  All I could do was focus on the emotional side and keep my head above water, holding myself strong with a confidence that everything would eventually go back to normal. I could only hope that my Sunday long run would be the light at the end of the tunnel.  Sure enough, it was.

Since I lifted on Friday evening, my legs were a little sore from that, but I knew that I could run 15 miles at 630 pace with Alana on Sunday morning.  Alana and I did just that.  Toward the end, it was a little bit more difficult to talk and breathe at the same time, but we still managed a couple snippets of conversation here and there.  I threw down my fastest split during 14th mile, as I said farewell to Alana and kept on going to the 2 mile marker before turning around and stopping at the .5 mark.  I stopped, stretched a little, before jogging a half mile as a feeble attempt at a cool down; my legs were stiff!

In the end, the most important learning lesson this week is to keep up the lifting routine.  I'm doing abs every other day (3-4x/week) and lifting 2-3 times, using a program that Mark Kane created for me back in January.  The best part is that Garrett gets back next Tuesday and will act as my personal trainer to tell me what I'm doing wrong and right.  I tend to only have tendon issues as I've never had a stress fracture in my life.  The important thing it to keep my glutes and hips strong so my IT doesn't have to do any more work than it's already doing!