weekly update #15

For the first time in way too long, I actually did all of the running/cardio I planned to do!  Four runs and a spin class... pretty fabulous.  Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday I ran before work with M.  Monday and Wednesday were both pretty awesome - it was in the 50s, so we weren't too cold, and maintaining a 10:30ish pace was feeling easy (other than our first mile, because warming up with a huge hill is not fun).

Thursday, on the other hand, was rough.  It was much colder (30s) and for some reason, running just felt HARD.  Our first 3 miles were 11:40, 10:55, and 10:49.  Somehow we managed to speed up for our fourth mile, but overall, it was a tough run.... and it was windy!  Brrrr.

Saturday was our first group run with the In Motion Fitness training group.  The run was supposed to start at 7:00am and it was in Raleigh, so we had to leave my house at 6:20.  I think they were a little disorganized/had a bigger turnout than they anticipated, so we didn't actually start running until 7:30, but other than that minor glitch, it was really great!  The program had pacers going different difference at different paces, so people training for a full marathon could go 12 or 14 miles and people training for a half marathon could go 4 or 7 miles, and the paces ranged from 11:30 to 9:30 with some run/walk groups.  M and I decided to do 7 miles and stuck with the pacer running around 10:30, who was named Kathy.  Turns out Kathy has very similar running experience us - she has run 2 half marathons in the past 2 years at 2:16 and 2:13, and is hoping to run a 2:05 half marathon this spring!  We had two other runners stick with our pace group the entire time, one who is training for her first half and other who has also completed 2 half marathons before.  It was so fun getting to know them and chatting... the first 4-5 miles FLEW by!  In addition to the run feeling easy/fun, I was impressed with how consistent we were running... our splits were 10:24, 10:37, 10:32, 10:25, 10:28, and 10:36 for the first 6 miles!  The last mile was mostly up hill, and I was determined not to slow down despite the hills.  I ended up getting a bit ahead of the group, beause I so "in the zone" and my last mile was 9:52!  I think that Saturday was one of the best long runs I've ever had, and even though getting up early and driving so far sucks, I cannot wait for our next group run!

On all three weekday runs, the right arch of my foot hurt, but it wasn't too bad.  Saturday it didn't hurt until the run was over.  After my Saturday long run, I had a gait analysis done, and the guys at the store thought that wearing the narrow version of my shoe might be causing my arch pain... basically, the support is hitting my foot in the wrong place, and that's why my foot hurts.  That makes lots of sense, but I've been in these shoes since July, so I'm not sure why the pain only started in the last two weeks.  The shoes have about 270 miles on them - so I wouldn't think they are too old, but maybe as they wear down they are causing more arch pain?  Who knows.

Also, I've been running with my knee brace and I haven't had any knee/IT band pain.  Part of me wants to stop wearing the brace since I'm not experiencing pain, but another part of me wonders if the pain will come back if I take off the brace?  I guess I'll have to test it out at some point, because I don't want to be in the brace forever.
I also went to spin class on Tuesday.  My two favorite teachers are both leaving after this semster... so I'm about to be in the market for a new spin teacher.  Today is my last class with Allie, and we are having a Christmas themed spin class, so that should be nice... but I'm so bummed that she's moving!
Goal for this week: skip zero runs, do strength training twice.  Think I can handle it?

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Summary:
Monday 12/3: 3.77 in 39:35, avg. pace 10:30
Tuesday 12/4: spin class
Wednesday 12/5: 3.61 miles in 37:50, avg. pace 10:28
Thursday 12/6: 4.05 miles in 43:48, avg. pace 10:47
Friday 12/7: rest
Saturday 12/8: 7.00 miles in 1:12:54, avg. pace 10:25
Sunday 12/9: rest