Getting Ready for 5k

Found this post I had written but never posted today. I must have been around Nov 12. Decided to go ahead and post since I found it.

Been a while since I posted on here. The road to running is a bit of a long one. After my last ankle injury. I had to take more time off than I would have liked, but you have to do what your body says. In Sept I was able to start running again. I started this time outdoors and light thinking my issue was that my training so far was mostly on the treadmill, and it was the transition I was struggling with. In other words parts of my body were getting used to running, such as core leg muscles, heart, etc... However secondary muscles used to keep balance on rough street surfaces, or surfaces not perfectly flat like a treadmill, we're causing me issues. So part of me felt up to these runs, but I was injuring other parts.

My first several runs were a struggle. To date I had not been able to complete a full run workout outside. After several attempts I was finally able to do so down in Florida, while running on the beach (not a bad place to run). However my second run in Florida was a bit rougher, and I couldn't complete the workout as schedule. After several more runs I finally got into a groove of running outside. However after I found this stride, I started to get shin splints. Ugh!

I took a long weekend off and decided to start back a little slower on the treadmill. I felt fine with that next run, it was then I decided to mix up the runs between treadmill and outside until my legs could take it. I've been doing this for several weeks now with success.

Let me take you back briefly to three weeks ago. I decided to do my long run in the gym, as it was the big run. The one I hadn't been able to complete yet to date. Last time I attempted was when my ankle got injured. I didn't want to push too hard so I ran the treadmill. However after running about 35 minutes, I couldn't mentally make myself run the rest. My body could,have pushed through it, but mentally I could not take another running step on that damn treadmill! After the workout I was disappointed that I couldn't complete the run. However every workout isn't going to be what you expect, so that just meant I would repeat that week's workout next week.

The rest of the week's workouts were fine. I ran one of them outdoors. The next week I decided to run the big run outside this time. I completed it! I covered a little over 4.75 miles in that run of 55 minutes. It was a cycle of running 10 minutes and walking 1 minute for 55 minutes. The rest of the week's workouts were cake. I did the mid-week workout on the treadmill, then the end week workout outside.

That brings us to this week. On the run program I am on, this week was to be a light week. I ran one day indoors because of rain, and two days outside. However on my end of week run I couldn't push myself through the full run! By the way, this brings us up to this last Saturday. I completed 5 out of the 7 cycles of the run, and walked the rest. My legs were sore and achy for some reason. I had noticed that morning in walking around they were a little achy, and that carried into my run.

After the horrible workout I decided to load up on good foods. I ate a steak that night for protein. Next day I ate well all day, and same into today. Tomorrow I am to get back into big runs, a run even longer than two weeks ago. Am now fearful I won't be able to complete because as I write this, my legs are still aching a bit. Tonight I am going to take some Advil, and see how I feel in the morning. If my legs are still achy I may rerun my recovery light week, however I really need to push myself to keep progressing.

Onto the title, in two weeks I am running a 5k! It is a Turkey Trot in KY on Thanksgiving. I am not worried about finishing a 5k as I run 3.1 miles even on my light runs. Hopefully I can score a half decent time. I will be happy with 35 min, but secretly would love to come out of the gate with a time around or under 30 minutes.

That pretty much brings us up to date with the running. Outside of that progress, I am now growing my winter running clothing. I need to get some long sleeve shirts and pullovers, but I do now have 2 sets of pants I can run in as well as some gloves. I am following some advice I read online which says to run with what you have, and see after the run what you need. On Thursday's run last week it was around 40 degrees outside, and after the run my legs were a bit cold. At the beginning of the run my hands were also cold. Seeing as I live in Chicago, seemed that gloves were a good investment. I do need to get some more cold weather upper body clothes, but I will hold on that a bit. Unfortunately though in Chicago we will go from cool, to freezing in no time at all, so I should probably get on this.

More to come, wish me luck on my run tomorrow!