Day 38: 3.0 miles

I taped up my shin with KT tape before running. I actually had a hard time finding the painful spot in order to tape it. I think I took ibuprofen this afternoon so that might have been why. After my run my calf was sore parallel to the sore spot on the bone. Sigh. It never ends... 

The KT tape actually came loose while I was running, so it didn't help much anyway.

My plan was to run 1 mile and then do some Ballet Beautiful but I felt good at mile 1 so I kept going. Oh well.

3.0 miles. 27:56. 9:19 avg pace.

My heart rate got as high as 188 tonight, so... I probably should slow it down tomorrow. I didnt feel like I was going to die or anything while running. My quads were toast but that's it. Weird.

I run with less shin pain at the faster speeds. I feel like my stride is more efficient. At paces slower than about 10:00/ mile, it's like I run more on my toes and feel like I'm shuffling. I should set up a video camera some time so I can really see what's goin on.

Day 37: 3.0 miles

I really have no self control, do I. My shin hurt a little for the first half mile (I haven't had any ibuprofen today) and then was fine for the most part. A little ache here and there for a few seconds and that was it. It doesn't hurt even now, after my run, except when you push on one specific spot on the bone. Yikes. With the stress fracture in my metatarsal, it was about 4 days from the first twinge of pain, to full blown, soul-sucking, refusing to drink water because the walk to the bathroom will be too excruciating, kind of pain. 

I'm on two weeks now with the shin pain. It's not getting any worse, I don't think, but it's not really getting any better either. 

Sometimes I feel it in my right shin as well.

This. Sucks. 

I have some leftover KT tape. I'll try to remember to tape it tomorrow.

Anyway. Today I just felt like running 3 miles. First mile at 6.0mph, second mile at 6.5mph, mile 2.0-2.75 at 6.8mph and mile 2.75-3.0 at 6.5mph.

3 miles. 28:09. 9:23 avg pace.

Day 36: 1.0 mile

Told ya... Another boring, 1 mile run. Tonight I tried out the heart rate monitor that came with my new watch. When I get a couple of more runs in with it I'll talk more about it. So far though, I think it's the coolest thing in the whole world haha.

1 mile. 10:00. I'm excited that my "warm up" pace is 10:00 (6 mph) lately. When I started a month ago, I would have died starting at that speed. Can't wait to get back to the paces I was running prior to my stress fracture so I can work on being even faster!

No post run selfie today... You get my shoes... With several filters and text. I was trying out some photo editing apps last night because I couldn't sleep.

I promise... My floor is not that dirty haha

Day 35: 1.0 mile

Well, the streak is officially over. The Runner's World Holiday Run Streak Challenge, that is. I am going to keep going as long as I can. Ultimate goal... The whole year. Hopefully I won't break myself.  Speaking of that... This is goin to be pretty boring the next few days because I am forcing myself to only run 1 mile the next couple of days. My shin should not still be hurting after a week and a half. This is a bit ridiculous. 

I did run my mile today a little fast, but my leg felt fine and I was a little on the crabby side so I had a bit of aggression to work out in a short period of time on the treadmill.

1 mile. 8:20. Stretched my IT band and calves immediately after. I really need to start doing some strength work too on these days I only run 1 mile. Next time, I suppose.

Back to work tomorrow after having a week and a half off. The morning is going to be brutal because the kiddos have been sleeping in late just like me. 

This might sound ridiculous but I have a hard time with these post run selfies. Maybe it's a confidence thing but I feel like I look... Weird in them. And I'm not used to having so many pictures of just myself in one spot. I feel narcissistic or something. I guess I'll just take more pics of my shoes or something until spring when I can get outside more and take pics of the scenery. 

Day 34: 3.0 miles

I did the math. If I were to run 4 miles today and 4 miles tomorrow, I will have run an even 100 miles for the streak. 

But I'm not going to make it.

And I'm ok with that.

I'd rather be able to keep the streak going longer, than break myself and HAVE to stop early.

I probably shouldn't have done 3 today, to be safe. But the shin felt better today and I could barely feel it when my run started. As I got warmed up, I didn't feel it at all.

I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of the streak challenge. This wasn't as "challenging" as I imagined it was going to be. Relatively effortless. Of course my flexible work schedule definitely helped since I wasn't having to get up at O'Dark Thirty to run.  Keeping this little streak alive will be difficult inthe  throes of tax season when I'll be forced to run at 6am or not at all. I'm getting all twitchy thinking about it.

Back to today: 3.0 miles. 28:11. 9:24 avg pace.

Post run selfie with Miss Mercedes.

Happy New Year!

Day 33: 3.0 miles

This shin pain is driving me nuts. I took the insole out of the shoes I've been wearing and they are pretty thin where I typically land on my forefoot. They are more worn down than my two pairs of old shoes which have double and triple the miles on. I. Was. Annoyed. So I wore my older blue Pure Flow 1s on my run today to see if that helped at all. I think it did. I also wore my compression sleeves. 

3.0 miles. 29:44. 9:55 avg pace.

I still have my timing chip on them from the last half marathon I ran in June. 

I'm going to start rotating my shoes more, which I should have been doing all along. I guess the foam in the midsoles of some shoes need at least 24 hours to "recover" from a run. I've been wearing them almost daily and so they obviously haven't been getting that "rest" time. Hoping they puff back up a little bit. I'd hate to have to retire them after only 100 miles. I did buy a pair of dr scholls gel inserts to replace the worn out ones but I'm not sure if I'll use them or not.

When my shins heal I want to start wearing my Vibrams again once a week for a short, slow run. They are so fun to run in, but I obviously over did it when I got them because I fractured a metatarsal. (Vibrams+sidewalks=broken foot)

Day 32: 1.0 mile

I stayed out way too late last night and didn't feel the greatest today on top of being super tired.  We celebrated our last Christmas of this year with Karl's family so most of my day was spent there. Just finished my mile at 9:45pm and got ready for bed.

I stupidly didn't change sports bras beforehand and was thus wearing a low support bra. Running any distance with your arms across your chest is annoying. I'm surprised I don't have a black eye.

1.0 mile. 10:54.

Zzzzzzzzzz........