Tuesday's Training Update: A Mixed Bag

I received some great suggestions last week with regards to my Achilles tendinitis woes. Okay, that's not exactly correct. I don't have Achilles tendinitis at this point, but I could tell that I heading down that road. These days, I try hard to be smart and not run myself into the ground. I did some more research and did find that speed work without warming up can contribute to Achilles issues...Doh! Yes, I run my tempo runs without warming up, and no that's not being smart. That must have been the catalyst for my issues. Lesson learned. Don't skip the warm up. I did look into the crazy sock and night braces, but haven't decided on anything. Mostly because I know I don't have a real issue yet. I also read about this interesting tape (from Ana-Maria who blogs over at Running and Living). I decided to give that a shot. I conducted my own little experiment. I used the tape on one heel (the worse one) and left the other heel untaped for my 15 miler last week. It's odd because I couldn't really feel the tape while I was running, but the taped heel didn't get tight after the run, while the other did. Interesting. I think it's worth using on my long runs.

Now moving onto my training. Hmmm, I don't know about me sometimes. I think I've been getting a little over zealous during some of my easy runs. Tuesday I ran 8 miles at an average pace of 7:57, with the last 5.5 miles being at 7:32. It was 84 degrees and humid. That was suppose to be my easy run, and my tempo run was suppose to be on Wednesday. I told myself that I did in fact run easy, but I was totally in denial I think because Wednesday's tempo run was a disaster. I ran four miles at 7:25 pace and thought I was dying. I was even sore on Thursday, which never happens anymore. I was so disappointed! So disappointed in fact, I decided to run a 15 miler on Friday (even though I was only scheduled for a 7 miler). I'm glad I did though, the weather was great (73 degrees) and I felt great too. I wound up averaging 8:32 pace and I was pushing the munchkin along.

The Achilles have been fine this week. The tightness in the morning is starting to subside. I'm sure that running only three days a week is helping. I've also been making sure to stretch after each run, and that has helped too. Overall, it's getting better, so that's great. Thanks for all the great suggestions last week!

Last Week's Training Log:

Monday: 55 minutes on the stationary bike
Tuesday: 8 mile run at 7:57 pace with the last 5.5 miles at 7:32 pace (84 degrees and humid)
Wednesday: 4 mile tempo run at 7:25 pace (86 degrees and humid) + 4 miles on the elliptical at 6:40 pace
Thursday: 60 minutes on the stationary bike
Friday: 15.1 mile run at 8:32 pace (pushing the stroller)
Saturday: 60 minutes on the stationary bike
Sunday: Off