7 Miles on the Treadmill

{crappy cell phone pic} Sunshine has converted River to her love of boxes; here he's reading one of his favorite books that he likes to carry around

Running on Monday after a long run on Saturday is a bit hard, but it really works so much better with my Tues-Thurs schedule. Having two days of walking before my long run seems to be helpful even though it means I have a shorter recovery post-long run.

That said, I did skip my run on Monday because I was tired and my feet were still sore from my 6 mile run. And my left glute was a bit sore from Saturday also. I had problems with it while pregnant with River, so I'm trying to avoid making it worse.
Tuesday-I walked.
Wednesday- I was supposed to run, but my legs still felt a bit off, so I walked. My left calf also felt a bit off that day for some reason.
Thursday- I wanted to run (it was a less crazy Thursday than usual, so I thought I could fit it in), but my calf was still feeling off. I wore my new compression socks (more details next week) while walking and they seemed to help a bit.
Friday- I walked.
Saturday- We had the pinewood derby in the morning, so I ran after we got back. It rained off and on all morning and was still looking rainy when we got home. I ended up taking a nap before going for my run. By the time I woke up and was functioning again, it had cleared up and was even sunny. But I wasn't prepared to run outside at that point- clothing, cold weather gear, water, etc- and had already mentally prepared myself to run on the treadmill, so I stuck with that. It was getting dark by the time I finished since I started later in the afternoon, so it was just as well I stayed home. I'm a bit paranoid about running at dusk and in the dark.

While running, I thought about how I felt during long run this week and last. The beginning is always rough, but then things loosen up and I settle into my groove. I came to the conclusion that I just need to run, even on the days I'm feeling tired and off. If I do, I'll feel better once I get going.

Saturday I warmed up by walking for 10 min, then I ran 30 min, walked 5 min, ran 30 min, walked 5 min, ran 30 min, walked 5 min, and ran for 6:25 min. I then walked for another 13:35 min for my cool down.  All told, I was on the treadmill for a total of 135 min and 8.17 miles.

Discounting my warmup and cool down, I completed 7 miles in 111:25 min by running 96:25 min and walking for 15 min. My average pace was 15:55 min/mile. Last week I completed 6 miles in 93 min at an average pace of 15:30 min/mile. So I was a bit slower this week than last week, but I also wasn't pushing it as hard as I did last week. My recovery from last week was a little slow and I think that impacted my run this week. But honestly, I'm just happy that I'm able to run and that my distances are increasing.

My total mileage for the week was 16.10 miles, an improvement on last week's 13.97 miles.

Saturday night I realized it's time to start wearing my maternity support belt again. My hips and knees were very painful and uncomfortable after all that time on the treadmill. Thankfully I have a very nice husband who was willing to give me a good massage that went a long way to relieving the pain. We pulled out my bin of maternity clothes that night so I could start wearing my belt while running. This is about two weeks sooner than I needed to wear the belt when I was pregnant with River, but my mileage is a lot higher this time, so I'm not surprised. On the other hand, my feet aren't sore like they were last week, so bonus for me.