Today’s Workout – Easy Run
Total Mileage: 13.06 miles
Total Time: 1:53:39
Average Pace: 11 mile run outside (9:22 min/pace), 2 mile run on home treadmill (10:00 min/pace)
What do you think of the new blog look? It’s taken a lot of time and work, but I am pretty happy with it! I will be tweaking little things here and there so be patient with me.
I am slowly learning some of the down sides of high mileage running or at least increasing your mileage.
Before we get into that, today’s workout was simple easy running.
I started off with an easy 11 miles out in the beautiful country. One of my favorite courses to run.
I posted this this morning before heading out to run on my Instagram. I had good feeling for a new day and was so excited to just run easy and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
The 11 miles went alright. I did have hip pain going on that I was trying to work diligently at getting rid of, but it didn’t stop me and I still finished all 11 miles.
I came home afterwards and ended up running another 2 slow miles on the treadmill just to test out my hip a bit more.
As I mentioned earlier I am slowly seeing some of struggles of high mileage running.
1. You hurt. I am not talking about injury pain, but your body is just simply very tired. One day I will have tightness in my calves and work on trying to get that to go away and then the next day my hip is hurting. Lesson being you need to stretch EVERY party of your body every day. There is no way around it, trust me i’ve tried! You just have to suck it up and focus on it every day. You just have to accept that your body is going to ache, things are going to hurt, but you have to be able to keep going and take care of your body so that it recovers each day.
2. You have to pay attention to your nutrition. I have been slacking on this lately, but I don’t talk much about food on the blog. I got some samples from Vega Protein last night and decided it was time to start reintroducing protein shakes back into my diet.
I don’t normally take an entire protein shake, usually half of one.
I drank this one right before bed in hopes that my body would use the protein to help repair my muscles and body throughout the night.
I will have a full review up of Vega Protein very soon, but I really enjoyed all the healthy benefits that came with it!
3. You’re always hungry. You have to fuel your body to get you through your runs, but you also have to be careful not to get caught in the trap of eating everything in sight and I have been finding myself doing that lately.
4. You hurt. Oh wait, did I already mention this? 🙂
On a positive note, I am loving the strides I have taken in my running and how far I have come. It has only been a couple weeks of really increasing my mileage and pushing my body to new limits, and even though there have definitely been some struggles I am starting to see my work pay off.
Also, I think I have finally got a stretching routine down that I will be sharing with you very soon! I will break it down step by step. Stretching is the most important item in ANY workout routine or running routine. So keep posted!
Do you use protein shakes? If so, what is your favorite kind?
You have 3 days left to enter my PRO Compression Giveaway! Have you entered yet?
I need to be better about stretching. And I need a foam roller. I tend to only stretch when something feels tight or hurts–probably a little late at that point. Might be the reason that I am the least flexible person in the solar system. Yes, really.
Haha I love that! I don’t know I could possibly be right there with you in competing for that honor! I am doing better, but it has been quite the process to get here! Foam rolling is AMAZING – you should definitely get one!
A lot of recent research shows that stretching is really not what you should be doing, but instead ‘dynamic warmups’. Given I have run for nearly 25 years since a year out of undergrad school, stretching is a hard habit to break, but I am trying to integrate some dynamic stuff.
It’s funny, I was nodding as I read this and my wife saw ‘You hurt’ twice, and asked ‘now WHY do you do this to yourself? hehe … because it is awesome!
Yes I do dynamic stretches before my runs and work to stretch a bit deeper at the end! Haha yes pain Is just part of the game – even when it hurts I still love it! Though right now I just want to go sleep!
I like Sunwarrior protein powder, but I really want to try vega!
Thank you for mentioning Sunwarrior! I’ve been looking for that exact type of protein powder, and everyone gives me a (virtual and in real life) deer-in-the-headlights look when I ask.
I have been increasing my mileage, preparing for a 50 mile ultra at the moment and have just taken two days off from hip ‘ache’ rather than pain – desperately stretching in any spare second I’ve had over the past two days to try and get back out there quicker! So will be checking back for your stretching advice!
Yes I will have a post up soon with my entire routine! Dynamic stretching before the run is vital but I too am having hip pain! I keep trying to stretch it out but it keeps coming back!
I go through phases where I’ll have a few shakes a week, and then I’ll go weeks without having any. I don’t think I have had a protein shake in 2 weeks!
I am the exact same way! I used to drink the daily and now it’s probably been 2 plus months since I’ve had one!
I am seriously in awe of your running! I have been slacking the past few weeks, and your posts are just the kick in the pants that I need to get out and get my run on!! 🙂
Go get it!! Every week is different for me- this has been a tough week but I’ve had better weeks too! Just keep at it 🙂