To say my first post-C25k run last week was a disappointment could possibly be the understatement of the century. It started off normal enough but the minor aches from my legs quickly developed into noticeable aches with flare ups here and there that bordered on painful; and I've got a pretty high tolerance for pain. I tried to slow my pace and focused on anything but the aches. Unfortunately, just 1.5 miles into the run (2 miles total), I had to call it a night and stop running.
Whether or not I have shin splints, I didn't want to continue pushing and, in turn, mess up my legs to the point that I simply can't run. I planned to have my rest day like normal and, if my legs allowed, I'd go running on Friday 8/5. When it came down to it, though, my shins ached a little bit about an hour or so before the run and I chose not to run. Instead, I put my foot down and decided to do one thing I didn't expect to do: take a week off from running. The thing that made me most apprehensive about that was the chance of falling back out of shape.
Luckily for me, I happen to have a stationary bike at home. Although it's not exactly the same type of workout, it's low impact and something that I could do to stay in shape while I gave my shins a rest. Since I couldn't run on Friday, I biked for about 30 minutes and covered roughly 8 miles; all without breaking a sweat even though I went along at a 17-19 MPH pace most of the workout. Tonight I was back at it and decided to spend a bit more time pedaling in place.
I had warmup and cooldown portions in this workout (5 minutes each) and I went at the 17-19 MPH pace for 35 minutes. In total, I covered 12.5 miles. I'm planning to do this Wednesday and Friday and, hopefully, get back to running on Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment