Run Fourteen: Goal Achieved! :D

Almost back up to my best run ever (which
was Week 2 and I've no idea how I did it).

Oh, yeah, run fourteen was awesome!! 

First thing in the morning, I went for my run while my husband was shopping at the market across the street across the street from the gym. This worked out beautifully.

I even kicked my goal for the run in it's underachieving behind! :D My goal was all five minutes of all three runs with at least one at 3.5 miles per hour. What I did was all five minutes of all three runs with ALL of them at 3.5 miles an hour. I could probably have gone faster on the first one, I kept over-running the treadmill, but I didn't want to go so fast on the first one that I couldn't do all of them at 3.5 miles an hour. So I paced myself so I could keep a good steady speed. 

I did have a bit of a problem with crampy calves, though it went away after about 30 seconds of running. I also had a bit of shin pain, mostly in the walking intervals, which was sorted out by slowing down a little bit so I wasn't over-striding so much. 

When we got home I remembered to stretch and massage my calves. I didn't remember to do that last Wednesday (because I had a bunch of stuff going on as soon as I got home) and was stiff and hurty and sore for a couple of days. No fun. 

I've been focusing mostly on calf stretches and massage because my calves are thick and stiff just on their own, but today I could feel the run in my hamstrings. I need to look up some good hamstring stretches. I counted on Downward Dog to deal with them today (because it's good for many things).

I have some extra time this weekend and want to use some of it to work out a not-too-long (20 to 30 minutes) and fitness-level-appropriate strength routine for Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (three of my non-running days; Friday is my Rest Day). I have some resistance bands (from physical therapy ages ago) and am also equipped to do body weight exercises. 

For the rest of the day, it's snowing out (yay!) and we've done all our errands so I can just bask in the glow and enjoy. 

Next run is scheduled for Tuesday. The program for Week 5, Day 2 is eight minutes of running, five minutes of walking, eight minutes of running. Goal for the run: Run all eight minutes of both of those, at least one at 3.5 miles an hour. If I can do both at 3.5 miles an hour I'll be Awfully Pleased! (I'm still not thinking ahead to Wednesday -- 20 minutes straight. Eep!)