Workout Woes

I posted a couple weeks ago how excited I was to get on a new workout schedule and train for the 408K in March, but my plans have been derailed due to illness, injury, and an unexpected vacation.

Friday, Feb 1 I did this treadmill workout I found on Pinterest. I had also run that Wednesday and my shins were starting to ache. For the past few weeks I've been warding off sickness as best I can with vitamin C, zinc, and healthy eating.  Early last week, however; it caught up to me and the kids. I had just signed up for the Campbell Valentine's Day 5K for Sat, Feb 9.  So for a week before the race I didn't workout AT ALL.  I kept taking my vitamins, drinking tea with lemon and honey, and eating oranges off my still thriving tree.  By Saturday my shins splints had vanished, and while still sick, I was feeling a lot better.  I wasn't going to flake on this race, but I no longer cared about time... I just wanted to finish.  My sister-in-law, who signed me up, and I started off together at a good pace.  I could tell when we got close to the halfway point she was ready to speed up, so I told her to go for it!  I just tried not to let myself fall too far behind her.  I ended up finishing a little over a minute behind her. 

(Tom Vo Photography)

What was shocking was that I came in at 28:41!  My last 5K was Thanksgiving and my time was 30:08.  Since I had hardly trained at all since then I was so impressed with myself, and proud of my SIL who broke a 9 min/ mi pace!  I felt great right after the race I'm sure due to all the endorphins.  And my husband made a huge spaghetti dinner so I could refuel.  But that evening I crashed... HARD.  I felt this sickest I had been all week, my shins were throbbing, and my whole body ached.  Up until yesterday my shins were still hurting.  My cold is lingering, and I haven't worked out since the race Saturday. 

This week we started planning our vacation to Washington to visit my family there, which I couldn't be more thrilled about.  It worked out best for us and my family in WA to visit the same weekend of the 408K.  So I won't be running it after all.  But I'm determined to get back on my feet regardless.  I can't go to the gym yet because my kids still have symptoms, but today I'm going to workout at home.  I asked my husband to take me to the running store this weekend to get fitted for the right shoes.  I know my old shoes are somewhat to blame for my injury.  And I ordered some kinesio tape online that will hopefully help with the shin splints as well. (Shin splint taping tutorial here.)  Hopefully by next week we'll be fully recovered and back on track with my workout schedule.