27 times two

I spent last week in San Diego. I did 3 runs there, heading from the convention center north along the harbor. All of my runs started by 5:30 AM (ouch), and I did 6 km, 13 km, and 8 km. The views on the 1st two just before sunrise were amazing. When I had a view to the south, I could see downtown across the harbor, surrounded by the glow of sunrise. There was a crescent moon just over downtown as well, it was absolutely remarkable.

Then I did a 27 km run yesterday. I felt really sluggish the whole time, which seems consistent with the 6:12/km pace I put in.

The 54 km I did last week is a new record for me.

Shinsplints

On Sunday I did a 24 km run, my longest run ever. Almost everything went well, with the exception of my right shin. My shin was a bit sore for the 1st couple of km, then stopped bothering me. Everything seemed fine until around 16 km, then my shin started to hurt a couple of inches lower than the initial pain. The second time around it was much more uncomfortable. From that point until the end, my shin continued to hurt - not badly enough to slow me down, but it was pretty uncomfortable. The run took me 2:25, and the second half was a bit faster than the 1st. My shin was sore for the rest of the day, I did ice it, wrap it, and take some Vitamin I.

Yesterday I did a lot of stretching, and iced it again. That seems to have helped some. I ran 6 km on the treadmill this morning, and my shin wasn't too bad. I'm planning to take tomorrow off from running, and then run again Thursday. Hopefully Thursday will be around 12 km.

Brutal

Tonight was one of the toughest training runs I've ever done. I should have paid more attention to the Weather Network's "Wind Warning," that was in big bold red letters on their website. The temp was just below freezing when I started, with the wind coming down from the N-W. I headed north to start off into the wind, and almost gave up after 2 km when the lid of a trashcan flew past me in the opposite direction, at waist level. Signs were blown down all over the place. My left quad and right ankle were quite sore. It dawned on me near the end that the reason I was getting so sore was that I was constantly off balance. At one point with the wind at my back, I was actually slowing myself down, rather than pushing myself forward. I did the full 11 km that I was planning on, but it was just brutal.

Checked when I got home. Wind was at 50 kph, with gusts up to 90.

Schedule

I've been following one of Hal Hidgon's Novice marathon schedules for the last couple of months. I've modified it a bit by adding an extra 2 weeks to give me one more 28 km run, and one really easy recovery week. I've also modified it a bit to account for the fact that I'll be out of town for a week, and don't think a 26k run is possible while traveling.

Here's my current plan (distances in km):