Who would've thought a hangover would help my running?

Sarah's birthday party + viele Stiegl Bieren + coupla Jameson shots = OOUCH!!

Saturday morning I was a waste case. It hurt. No way was I able to pull myself together to run my long run. I was probably so dehydrated that I would've bonked badly, or too brain dead that I would've tripped or done something ridiculously stupid.

Anyway, so as an attempt to nurse the hangover, I loaded up on some Aleve throughout the day and got some rest. Strangely, I think all the Aleve actually flushed some of the inflammation out of my shins, and the day off probably also helped.

The result... I ran the 18 today and felt great! No significant pains, and felt strong the whole way. Shins were good. I've jumped up in my long runs pretty quick here, and they're actually feeling good.

This week is now front loaded with a long run. I should be able to pull together 70+ miles, and top it off with a 20 miler run on the hills in Barrington. It'll definitely be a "get involved" kinda week. Not sure what kind of speed I'll do yet, but I'm FINALLY starting to pull together some decent runs.

Back in the 50s

Way back when, I used to put in some decent mileage.

It seems like ages ago, but that's finally starting to come back now.

I've run 6 of the last 7 days for a total of 54 miles. I've also had 2 good runs so far this week, both of which included 4 miles of progression, hit down into the mid 5:50's.

The nice thing is that none of this was overly taxing, and my cardio is starting to feel more "normal". After taking a series of days off last week to help with my shin splints, I'm feeling much better this week.

Thanks to lots of lower leg strengthening, Sarah and her magical massage work, and some acupuncture... my shin splits have eased up. Far from 100% gone, but manageable at this point.

Also, earlier this week I had my final visit with Dr Baker. X-ray's confirmed that any remaining calcium deposits (aka repair work) around the fracture have fully cleared up. I officially have a clean bill of health for my stress fracture. I haven't had any foot pain in well over week... no aching or soreness whatsoever. All in, that ordeal was 17 weeks long. A nasty and costly learning experience.

Shin Splints

I've reached an impasse.

Yesterday I came to the conclusion that I need to get this shin splint issue resolved ASAP before I run another mile. If I don't, then I'm going to blow a lot more than the London Marathon.

My shin splints are technically Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome.
Essentially, I took a break from running. My lower leg experienced some atrophy as a result of das fucking boot and my stress fracture. As I started rolling my mileage back up, the muscles running along the inside and back of my shin bone have basically been nagging that bone from over use / being over stretched.

My pain is technically just behind the medial portion of the tibia. From my understanding, it is the flexor digitorum and the soleus muscles pulling on that medial tibia. Some how, one way or another - it is the changing of angle of my foot before and/or after impact that gradually has stressed the inside of my shin.

This has happened to me a number of times in the past after coming back from breaks... It usually takes 3 or 4 weeks for the pain to first appear. The good news is that since I've been through this enough times, I know how to rehab it quickly. I can be rolling again in a few days.

The solution:
- Rest + ice + anti-infamitories.
- Doing like 50 different exercises constantly throughout the day to get it to chill out and come back to reality... main ones are: Walking on my heels; Raising my feet while standing and keeping my heels on the ground; Lifting my arches with my flexor digitorum (basically pulling the arches up, using the muscle on the medial side of my shin); Rotating my foot round and round a kazillion times in both directions.
- Lots of Massage! Sarah's been massaging it pretty aggressively in the past week. This is key, as the knots need to get flushed out.
- Acupuncture. I have a session tonight. This will hopefully help flush out some of those knots. E-stim would probably be very helpful. Not sure if the acupuncturist will want to do that though.

The last few days off have not been for nothing. I am seeing improvement here. This impasse will soon be passed, and I should be running by the end of the week.

Just a taste...

10 miles with 8 at 6:30's.

Definitely my best run since coming back and a nice confidence booster.

I just had to bite the bullet with my shin, stretch it out, and roll. Once I got into the groove, I didn't want to let up and my calf finally chilled out.

That taste of going just a little faster for a slightly longer run was soooo nice! It's been too long since I've had that feeling. Call it a runner's high or whatever... but it was nice to get it once again.

The fact that I didn't have a heart attack during the run made it all that much better.

Trials of Miles

Ran 15 yesterday. That's the longest run I've had since the marathon in October. It definitely wasn't easy.

My shins have been hurting me for the last several days, it was like 20-25 degrees, wind was incredibly annoying... and to top it off, I was a bit hung over.

I'd really like to say that this was one of those "growing" runs... where I'm stronger for having finished it than before... and now that it's out of the way, I feel much better. But no, it hurt too much. It was just a reminder of of out of shape I am.

3 weeks of mid-30's running... nothing all that special, but the foot is coming along nicely. No pains there, but as I said my shins are pretty banged up. Sarah's worked on them a few times and it really seems to be helping... but I'm still having to stop a couple times during a run to stretch my calves and quickly massage them.

I still feel like garbage running though. Up to 10 miles feels fine. Anything over 10-12 feel too much work. I still have yet to do a speed workout... I need a few more weeks of building before I'm willing to push it.

My simple goal for this next week will be to get beyond that.