Last week I missed nearly my entire week of training due to shin/lower leg pain in my right leg. I don’t think it was actually injured, but I think I severely aggravated my leg by running three times in less than 24 hours during Ragnar. Not to mention I was running harder during those three runs than I have most of training. I certainly don’t regret Ragnar, though! I am happy to report that my leg is feeling better and I was able to ease back into training this week.

Monday- 5 mile easy run on the Dora Trail. I still had the same kinesiology taping job from Sunday (you can pretty much leave it on until it starts coming off) and I think it’s providing the extra support my leg needs. Aside from a minimal amount of pain, I felt really good during this run. The fall weather was perfect and I just really enjoyed being out there.

Tuesday- 2 x 2 miles with 800m recovery for 7 miles total. There is guidance in the Hansons Marathon Method book on what to do when you have to miss multiple days of training due to an illness or injury. I fell in the 3 to 6 days missed category. Their advice is to run easy for 3-4 days (I did 3 days) and then revert to the previous week’s training regimen. After that week you are supposed to jump ahead to the week you should be on. For me, that meant repeating week 12 during week 14 and then jumping ahead to week 15. However, weeks 12 and 14 are nearly identical, except for the strength/interval workout (Tuesday) and the tempo run (Thursday).

So what I decided to do was take the 3 x 2 mile workout that I missed last week and cut it down to 2 x 2 miles to help ease myself back into training. The last thing I wanted to do was to re-aggravate my leg. The workout went really well. Intervals are still my favorite! Especially long ones. My goal was 20:16 for each 2 mile segment and my splits were: 20:03 / 19:49

Once again I had nice cool fall weather to run in during the evening. Did I mention fall is my favorite!?

Wednesday- Rest.

Thursday- 7 mile tempo for 9 miles total. I had a 9 mile tempo on the schedule, but chose to do a shortened workout to continue easing back into training. All in the interest of not re-aggravating my leg. The run went really well. It was relatively cool outside (or at least not humid) and there were lots of people out on the trail. I ran at Bisset Park which means I also go to run by lots of soccer games.

With the Hansons, tempo runs are synonymous with marathon pace runs, so I was aiming for a 10:18/mile average during the middle 7 miles. I have struggled with tempo runs in the past, but this week it went really well. After the first few miles I just got into a groove and it finally felt like a pace I could settle into for a long time.

I ended up averaging 10:10/mile, a bit too fast but not by much. I also gave a new pattern of taping a try on my leg. There are two different ways to tape based on the type of shin pain you have. I decided to give both a try and see which one I liked better.

I decided I liked the first style better.

Friday- Easy 5 miler in the afternoon. I didn’t feel much like running, but it was on the schedule so I got it done. More of the leaves are changing now, so it was really pretty on the trail.

Towards the end of my run I saw a momma deer with her two not-so-young babies in tow. They were on the trail I was running on, and then they ran across the road, across a field, and into the woods. Can you spot them?

Saturday- 10 mile long run at the Virginia 10 Miler road race in Lynchburg. I had a pretty good day, and ended up running about 7 minutes faster than last year. Although, I should mention that last year I ran 6 miles prior to the race so there is that. I’ll do a full race recap on Wednesday!

Sunday- 8 mile easy run with Kim on the Dora and New River Trails. It was a chilly fall morning, which felt really nice to run in. My leg, shin-wise, felt fine, but my quads and calves were really sore from Saturday’s race.

Total Miles: 44 miles