I tried to do the same 5k loop around my neighborhood that I’ve been doing for a couple years today. My legs were still hurting a bit from yesterday’s terrible “run”. Each step I took today hurt a little more than the last. Soon I was walking, but that hurt too. I actually hurt less while running than walking, so I started running again for a while, but then it hurt too much and I dropped back to a walk. The walk was still painful, so I ran a little more. I was in so much pain I was almost crying. I broke back down into a walk. I haven’t ever had that kind of experience before. I kept telling myself that I would be out of pain sooner if I got home sooner, so I started running again.

When I got home I just sat outside the front door for several minutes. My legs were killing me. None of the major muscle groups were sore at all, but the stabilizers or ligaments or whatever it is that is hooked up along the sides of my tibia were killing me.

From everything I’ve read about shin splints, I think I need to take some time off from running… maybe focus on biking for a while, since it doesn’t seem to cause any of the pain I felt today.

https://runkeeper.com/user/jtalbot/activity/79780289

Jumping jacks: 50
Time at mile 1: 10:36
Time at mile 2: 20:34
Time at mile 3: 34:07

Normally, today would have been a longer run, but it didn’t turn out that way. It was super windy outside, so I decided I would run my 5 miles on the treadmill. I didn’t even make it through the first mile before my legs were hurting so much that I gave in and walked. I crossed the first mile around 9 minutes, but I didn’t run again. I just walked 2 miles after that and called it good. I wasn’t happy with the results, but I figured I should give my legs some time to recover. I skipped my jumping jacks before running and I wonder if that had anything to do with it. I doubt it.

Less than an hour later, Charmaine came home and we went for a bike ride. The wind wasn’t quite as strong, but it still made for a few pushes through a nice headwind. Surprisingly, I felt really strong. Clearly I’m using a different set of muscles to ride than I do to run.

We rode our usual loop up past the camels to the top of Alpine and then back down and across on Westfield Road. I was somewhat ahead of Charmaine when I reached the turn to go up Suncrest, so I started heading up. I figured I would turn around before the switchbacks started and still beat her to the turn-off. I was wrong. She reached the turn and headed up before I got back. I waved at her, then called her on her phone, to make sure she knew I had turned back. She knew. She was determined to go up as far as I had gone before turning around.

The ride home wasn’t too bad until we got to the hill on Canyon Rd. That’s always a fun hill to climb, but today the strong headwind made it a little more fun than usual. Still, we each focused on keeping our slowest speed higher than normal and we didn’t take too long getting to the top.

https://runkeeper.com/user/jtalbot/activity/79645902

Push-ups: 70
Time to mile 1: 09:15
Time to mile 3: 39:19

The weather is incredible today. I knew I burned my legs down with my big run yesterday, but there was no way I could stay inside on a day like today.

At the beginning and a few times during the first mile or so, my earbuds kept popping out. The cable is just slightly too short to go from my ears, down my shirt, and into my pocket where my phone is. Finally, I unplugged it, pulled the cord to the outside of my shirt and plugged it in again. They popped out a few more times, but then I found some position in my ear where the slight tugging that happened with each new step didn’t seem to move them anymore and I could just run.

The music seemed to help me keep a fairly steady pace. I never broke down into a walk, although I did slow my pace to about 5.0 mph going up one of the hills. I’m liking having the right music to keep my feet stepping in rhythm.

https://runkeeper.com/user/jtalbot/activity/79394904

Jumping jacks: 50
Push-ups: 100
Time at Mile 1: 09:38
Time at Mile 2: 19:05
Time at Mile 3: 29:22