Ready for the taper!
Yesterday I went to the podiatrist and found out some very cool stuff about the calf muscle in particular. You can read about that here in the runners community. In addition to just learning about my muscles, he taped these plates to the bottoms of my feet that would help counteract the strength of my calf muscles. I admit, I was a little skeptical, but I went along with it quietly, resolving to cut it off if it interfered with my run.
Wow, was I wrong. I stopped once to stretch out my right calf at mile 3, but had no problems what-so-ever with it after that. (And I wouldn't have needed that, but I stretched cold the first time.) No calf tightness, no shin splints, nothing. The midfoot is a touch sore because I'm not used to running for so long on the plate, but it definately helped the muscles perform their appropriate functions.
I'm okay with being wrong in that instance. ;) I ran for 10 miles steadily, taking a few extra walk breaks towards the end of the course. The course I ran is extremely hilly (about 5 of those miles are uphill, sometimes with a steep incline.) but I performed very well, until...
The very, very end of mile 7 has a hill with a 5% incline. Its a big, steep hill that has a bridge at the bottom that covers a small ravine. The hill was compounded by my extra training this week (I had one less day off than normal, where I did 10k in 51 minutes, so just two days ago I had a medium length, very hard paced run) and I just slowed down. I had kept pretty steady at about 10m/mi (with walk breaks figured in) but faded to 11m/mi for the last three miles.
Total Distance: 10.00 miles, 16.09 km
Time: 1 hour; 43 minutes; 13 seconds
Avg Pace(mi): 10:19
Avg Pace(km): 6:25
Avg Speed(mi): 5.82mi/hr
Avg Speed(km): 9.36km/hr
Temperature(start): 73F/HI of 73F
Humidity(start): 96%
Temperature(end) 88F/HI of 93F
Humidity(end): 67%
It was a good, long, hard run. I am looking forward to next week being a rest week though.
Wow, was I wrong. I stopped once to stretch out my right calf at mile 3, but had no problems what-so-ever with it after that. (And I wouldn't have needed that, but I stretched cold the first time.) No calf tightness, no shin splints, nothing. The midfoot is a touch sore because I'm not used to running for so long on the plate, but it definately helped the muscles perform their appropriate functions.
I'm okay with being wrong in that instance. ;) I ran for 10 miles steadily, taking a few extra walk breaks towards the end of the course. The course I ran is extremely hilly (about 5 of those miles are uphill, sometimes with a steep incline.) but I performed very well, until...
The very, very end of mile 7 has a hill with a 5% incline. Its a big, steep hill that has a bridge at the bottom that covers a small ravine. The hill was compounded by my extra training this week (I had one less day off than normal, where I did 10k in 51 minutes, so just two days ago I had a medium length, very hard paced run) and I just slowed down. I had kept pretty steady at about 10m/mi (with walk breaks figured in) but faded to 11m/mi for the last three miles.
Total Distance: 10.00 miles, 16.09 km
Time: 1 hour; 43 minutes; 13 seconds
Avg Pace(mi): 10:19
Avg Pace(km): 6:25
Avg Speed(mi): 5.82mi/hr
Avg Speed(km): 9.36km/hr
Temperature(start): 73F/HI of 73F
Humidity(start): 96%
Temperature(end) 88F/HI of 93F
Humidity(end): 67%
It was a good, long, hard run. I am looking forward to next week being a rest week though.