Discouraging and Painful

I don't know if I'm just starting to hit my first major hump in training or if I'm starting to actually accumulate some more serious injuries, but my last two runs have gone from bad to worse. On Sunday, I ran a half marathon that got off to a very tough start. As usual, my ankles were in just a little pain but I popped a few Advil before the run so they were kept in check. The more prominent pain (or maybe its more accurately described as tightness) was in my left shin. Its been quite a while since I've had shin splints, and I used to get them seriously in high school, but I'm pretty sure that's not what this is. This is more in the meaty part of my shin where there's a bit of muscle. That muscle has been real tight after the first half mile that I've had to stop and massage it and stretch it out. On Sunday's run, I had to do this at mile 3 and mile 4 as well. I was very seriously considering quitting on a run for the first time in training. The thought of running another 10 miles or so with that discomfort was incredibly daunting. Luckily, on Sunday the pain ended up subsiding around mile 5 or 6. I actually ended up feeling really good from that point onward. I ran into strong cold wins on the return trip back home, but I was feeling incredible. So I brushed Sunday's run off as a bad start but a solid overall run.

Today's run was a different story. The same thing happened with my left shin. I stopped at mile 1 and again at mile 3 to massage and stretch. From there it was just a matter of pressing onward through the discomfort. I couldn't get my pace up to its natural speed because my gate was affected by the tightness. So instead I ended up moving about 1 min/mile slower. I was determined just to finish my 6-milerm(which was supposed to be 7) and get back home. I could feel my left foot clomping on the ground with very little grace because my shin didn't seem to want to do any leg work. Consequently, my left knee starting feeling some pain because my stride was a bit F'd up.

Anyway, I was totally discouraged for the entire hour of the run. I think it's just starting to get to that point in the training where its not new and exciting anymore and my legs are getting both fatigued and tight. I'm hoping its just a hurdle but its made running a bit less fun. Getting excited for workouts has been difficult. On the other side, I had a great swim workout Monday and a good simulated 5-miler at the gym yesterday on the Arc Trainer. Admittedly, I've been a bit light on my cross-training workouts lately because they seem to be the first workouts to fall by the wayside when time doesn't permit a workout during a hectic week. I'll plan to change this in the coming weeks

The last thing I want to mention is that I have a 16-18 mile run scheduled this weekend. This will be my longest run yet by a couple miles. I'm desperately hoping that my ankles and shins improve a bit between now and then. I'll be singing a very different tune if that run goes well on Saturday so check back in then.

Taking things in stride... thanks for checking in.