Been a while since my last post but that does not mean I haven’t been running.

I did W4D3 on Sunday, I figured it would be okay to give myself a day of rest. Looking back, it was probably smart, but I must still be doing something wrong. W4D2 I couldn’t run the last five-minute interval, so I split it into two shorter intervals. I already mentioned that. W4D3 the last five minute interval was okay, but the first one actually wasn’t so I split that one as well.

Monday, I went to the stomach, legs, butt workout for the first time, and wow, did it kick my butt! It was actually a lot more cardio than I expected, and also unexpectedly, the cardio part I did fine. It was the muscle strength/tension part I sucked at. Matter of fact, my stomach muscles are still a little sore four days later! My legs were fine throughout the workout, and while I did feel my thigh muscles during the workout I wasn’t sore afterwards. I will definitely keep going to this, also because I think my legs and the rest of my body could probably use a little more muscle strength.

Back to running … Wednesday I did W5D1. And strangely, it went really well. My calves and shins were back to normal, and I enjoyed running in the cold with a light drizzle [I would have never expected to like this kind of weather for running]. So yeah, I was good with the three five-minute intervals. I finished them, at a pace that seemed normal for me.

Now, this morning W5D2? Didn’t go so well. I ran the first eight-minute interval, but after about five or six minutes, my calves and shins got to the point that I was just waiting for the walking break, so they could relax and stop hurting. I did start the second eight-minute interval, and ran for the first three minutes, then walked for one, ran for two and then just kept walking. And now - over twelve hours later, I still have this tired-legs feeling, that I know from when I am traveling somewhere and walked through the city all day.

So what is wrong with me? Am I doing something wrong? Why was I fine on Wednesday, but not the two runs before and the run after? I don’t get it. It seems to me like it must be something I am doing wrong, that I didn’t do wrong on Wednesday, because if it was shin splints, why didn’t I have the same problem Wednesday?

I have also never had this issue before … Can anyone help? It is incredibly frustrating because I know it is probably not the best idea to ignore it, but I don’t want to stop my training now that I am finally back into it.

Friday, October 24th

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:

• Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
• Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

What was I thinking? I actually didn’t run all this week up until today. Why? My sleep pattern was a little out of whack and after work/school I was usually really tired [sometimes so tired I just took a nap], so I didn’t go running. Well, that was Tuesday. I knew I wouldn’t be running on Wednesday because between 8am and midnight I spent about one hour at home, but Thursday I didn’t feel like it either, so it ended up being today.

Today? I went to salsa class first, then went running. Because it was already 8pm and dark I went running on campus instead of along the river. I hardly saw anyone else but I figured it would be safer and better-lit than the path along the river. By then my legs were already quite tired [again, what was I thinking? Yesterday that is.]  so I think I was running more slowly than ever. Seriously, I ‘ran’ just about as fast so you would not yet categorize it to be a walk. And I took a 30 second walking break during the last running interval. I blame it all on my legs, so really, I should not be running after salsa class on Friday. I should just stick to Tuesday and Thursday, and please, if I consider skipping running on those days again, remind me of this post!

I will do W4D3 tomorrow and then start week 5 on Sunday, as to not get behind in my schedule [which is essentially to start a new week every Sunday]. Three days of running in a row is not how it should usually be, but it’s my own fault, and seeing how I never get sore from running anyway, I hope my legs will have enough time to recover [and my endurance enough time to build up] in between runs. And then after Sunday, I’ll be back to normal. Usually I don’t even work or have class on Tuesdays [this week I did, that's why I took a nap instead of going running, I had to get up at 7.30am and only slept like 5 hours], so it shouldn’t be that hard.

I also noticed it is getting trickier to dress right. I was layering tonight, I had a tank top undershirt on, a longsleeved one over that and my shortsleeved running shirt on top, but I am not entirely sure that was warm enough. I might try my running vest / jacket sometime. I noticed that with the wind chill, I didn’t really feel warm enough, and I actually skipped the warm-up walk because I thought it would not warm me up at all but cool me down, and it probably would have.

Anyway, enough rambling. One question though which I meant to ask a week ago already: does anyone of you [I think I only mean you, Kirsten, I doubt anyone else reads this blog, haha] get a runny nose while running, especially in the cold? I always get a runny nose outside in the winter, and it is so annoying when you go running and your nose is running along with you, and you can’t breathe through your nose properly. Is there anything I can do to stop that? Besides just bringing some tissues along with me?