S2S - Week 7

Baby bruise on my knee; ankle is destroyed.

Monday
Injury Prevention Rest day. I was not feeling it on Monday and decided to move my injury prevention day to later in the week.

Tuesday
5 x 4:00 at 5k effort with 3:00 recovery
7 miles total

My left quad was feeling a little tight on Tuesday and I wasn't sure how that would affect my running. I also was really apprehensive about this workout since these speed sessions have been really challenging for me. This was the same interval distance as week 6 except with one extra rep. I was worried that I would fall apart in the last rep, so I had to force my brain to just shut off. My strategy for the workout was to keep my pace steady and in control for the first 3 minutes and allow myself to push hard the last minute (assuming I had the energy).

4:05, 4:10, 4:11, 4:12, 4:05 (avg pace: 6:54)

When compared to last week's session, my average pace was 1 second faster AND my slowest rep this week was faster than last week's slowest rep. ALSO, I finished my last rep at the same pace as my first rep. I actually felt really good about this workout and it boosted my confidence quite a bit.

Wednesday
5-6 easy miles 2.5 miles (9:30 pace)

My tight quad from Tuesday was feeling a bit painful on Wednesday so I cut my run down to just 2.5 miles. I also decided to take Thursday off from running as an extra precaution.

Thursday
5-6 easy miles Injury Treatment/Prevention

Foam rolling and more foam rolling. Lots of stretching. Core work and upper body work. I skipped squats/lunges/etc to make sure to take it easy on my quad. After an easy day and a rest day my quad was almost completely back to normal.

Friday
Rest 3.48 miles (9:25 pace)

I had a long run scheduled with friends on Saturday so I wanted to take it pretty easy, while also making up a few of my missed miles from early in the week. It was super sunny and super warm and it really felt like a mid summer run instead of mid April! It was the perfect day to be outside enjoying a few miles!

Saturday
13.6 miles of hills 9.8 miles of hills (pace unknown, but slow)

Oh Saturday long run. What a disaster. My friend Alex organized a group run that was going to be about 13.6 miles long and hit 4 of the biggest hills in town. I was planning on running about 12 miles, so this sounded like a perfect plan. Six of us set off at 10 AM to conquer those hills! It was hot and there wasn't much shade so we were keeping the pace pretty easy. We crested the first hill just 1.3 miles into our run and the second hill about two miles later. It was really hard not to think we were half way done at this point. The third hill included a series of little hills, the last one at mile 6 being quite steep (14% grade - there was sign to warn cars going down the hill!).

I went off course around mile 9, but I will be back for you hill #4!

And then, around mile 8, I completely wiped out. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I stepped funny on some gravel/sand covering the pavement and my foot shot out from under me. I came down hard on the inside of my right ankle and knee and the left side of my butt. My ankle is bruised and swollen while my tush is sporting some serious road rash and bruising.

I had to run/walk the rest of the way back to my car (thank goodness for a short cut back so I didn't have another 5 miles to go!). I was also grateful that I had a towel in my car so I didn't end up with blood all over my car seat.

Total miles: 22.78

Week 8 so far...
I went to the doctor's office today to get things checked out since things seemed to be getting worse rather than better. X-rays have been taken and I should find out tomorrow if I broke something in my right foot.

**Update** Not broken! Wooo!