Training: Week Three

Week three, done! This week was an exciting yet frustrating week for all things related to running. I made some exciting purchases, realized a few things, and went my long distance so far (although I hardly survived...). But more on all of that in a minute. Here's how this week was...

Monday: Rest day! Slash I should probably do some strengthening stuff or stretching on these days, but I'm not sure what to actually do. Suggestions?

Tuesday: Ran 2 miles outside ~18 minutes. It was kind of raining outside the whole time I was running, but it was that spit kind of rain...where it's not really raining but it's enough to get you wet. Normally I hate that kind of rain, but it actually felt nice while I was running!

Wednesday: Ran 3.08 miles outside ~30 minutes. It was cloudy all morning and then the sun came out of no where and made it feel pretty hot while I was running which was no bueno. But overall it wasn't so bad, towards the end the toes on my right foot began to go numb though...anyone else have this problem or know how to make it go away?

Thursday: Ran 2 miles outside ~21 minutes. For some reason this run was no fun for me at all. It was relatively hot and my legs hurt. I'm not sure why they're all of a sudden hurting more...but my ankles/calves were really tight when I was running and that made them pretty sore while I was running. I felt like I just needed to really stretch them out or something. So I ended up walking for a bit during this run. BLAH.

Friday: REST DAY! Minus a little bit of tennis :) It was too gorgeous outside to not play!

Saturday: Ran 3 miles outside around the lake - 29:57 mins. This wasn't too bad of a run, there were lots of hills but it was easier than it was in the past! My knees started to hurt some in the beginning, especially as I went down hills, but then they got a bit better. However by the end of the race my ankles were SUPER tight and my feet were completely numb. Awesome.

Because of this numbness I decided that it was time I actually do something about it. So I went to a running place and talked to them and they looked at how I walked and they said that my feet could be going numb because my shoes are too small or laced too tight, or also because I'm wearing supported shoes when I really don't need the extra support, I just need neutral shoes. Sooo I tried on a variety of shoes and ended up buying some bigger Asics. Which leads me to Sunday...

Sunday: I was super excited to try out my new running shoes and run the 4 miles today with hopefully no numb feet! No such luck. Seriously, this was the most frustrating run/day yet! I got to about 2 1/2 miles and my feet started to go numb AGAIN! It couldn't have been my shoes because they weren't tight at all so I didn't understand why it was still bothering me...and so much sooner than before. So needless to say the rest of the run was really frustrating for me. I could have run it fine if it weren't for my numb feet, so it made me really mad! I finally finished it though and did 4.11 miles in ~49 minutes. Not so bad, but I'm still upset because I ended up having to stop like twice to sit down and rub out my foot to get rid of the numbness and I ended up walking quite a bit too. FJKLAJGLSDKGJS. That's how I feel today.

I did some googling though and found out that I might be running too hard and I should stretch out my calves more too, so I'm going to try and run a little lighter and stretch a lot more and we'll see what that does! And if it still doesn't work...I'll be off to the Doctor, wah!


Okay so anyway, now to the exciting new things from this week...

Purchase #1:

Brooks running shorts!

While I was at the mall on Thursday exchanging something I randomly stumbled across a Try Sports store. I had nooo idea they had one of those at the mall and so of course I had to check it out! And hooray, they were having a sale! I'm shocked that I was able to control myself and only walk away with one thing...

I tried the shorts on Saturday and overall I liked them. They're super light which is nice, but I felt like they rode up a lot and I was constantly pulling them down because I'm super self-conscious like that. I want to try out some other Brooks shorts too.

Purchase #2:

Garmin Forerunner 610, eeeeeek!!!

I've been thinking for a while about which Garmin to get to track my runs and I've had quite a few in mind. In fact, I wasn't even considering this one until one of my friends told me about it. But I knew that I def. wanted some kind of running watch, preferably a Garmin. The one is a bit more expensive than most of the others, but I was able to get 20% off so it turned out to not be that bad!

It hasn't come in the mail yet (I just ordered it Friday) but it will hopefully be here soon and once it is I will be sure to tell all about it! I can't wait to get it and go run! Geez, how's that for motivation?

Realization #1:

I looove running to Girl Talk.

All of the songs are so upbeat and they give me that extra boost I need to keep running. They have awesome beats that keep me energized and they're longer than most songs...which just keeps me going even farther! Although yeah, most of the songs are not the edited version so they can get kind of interesting sometimes...

BUT, regardless of the words, if you need a good beat to run to, Girl Talk all the way :)

Realization #2:

Running in the rain can actually be kind of fun. Of course, I didn't run in a downpour or anything, so maybe my thoughts would change if I had, but so far I like it! I'm definitely going to stick to my normal running plans regardless of whether it's raining or not... it's kind of refreshing to be in the rain :) And I have to include this, just because when I googled "running in the rain" this is one of the images that popped up...

Steelers forever <3 and did you see that win today?! ;)

No clue why that picture came up under running in the rain but whatever, I'll take it and put it on my blog even though it has nothing to do with anything.

Ok well I think I've rambled on enough...

Happy Sunday,
B.Hines