Last week was out of the ordinary, and, my lowest mileage week in 2012 (other than the week I rested after the Polar Dash HM). My son and his teachers asked if I would help run the sound board, wireless microphones, and music for the show, since I had done so for last year's performance of "Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat". I love theater so I agreed.
That agreement meant three things for me. #1: it meant that I did not see much of my family last week because every day after work, I would have to go directly to the school to work sound during rehearsals (and usually not getting home until after 9pm). #2: it meant I did not get enough sleep because of #1. And #3: standing and moving about for 4 hours every night (after a full day at the office) kept my hips, knees, and lower back a little sore (I never really gave my body time to recover from my 12-mile run last Sunday).
I had planned on putting in about 16-18 miles last week. But it seemed like every morning I woke up, some part of my body was stiff and sore. Sometimes a hip joint, sometimes a knee, sometimes my back, and sometimes more than one (could it be my age?). Plus, I was just plain tired. Some of this could have also been due to the time change as well. But whatever the reasons, I chose sleep over my early morning weekday runs. I kept using the foam roller throughout the week to help with the stiffness in my hips and back, and relax my calves.
Except for Thursday. The weather was in the low 60s and I just felt like I HAD to go outside and run. After having run so many times on the Treadmill, I just couldn't let an entire week of wonderful weather pass me by. My hip was hurting so I started off with a longer warm-up walk. I walked a good 10 minutes hoping the hip would loosen up.
When I thought it was ready, I started to run, slowly. At first the hip was okay but after a 10:45/mm paced mile, it was complaining and I didn't want to do any potential injury. So I went back to walking. I went for 3.12 miles at an overall pace of 13:45/mm. It wasn't the best run experience, but I did enjoy the weather and just being outside in it.
On Saturday, I met up with my running partner Mike for a Long Slow Run on the Prairie Path. Mike didn't want to go too far or too fast because he was running a very hilly Half Marathon the next day. That was fine with me because my right knee was bothering me and I didn't want to 'push' too hard. We ran for 6.87 miles with wonderful weather and clear skies. I had to drop to a walk for a 1/2 mile when my knee started hurting about mid-way, but 6 miles of actual 'running' at an 11:00/mm pace was good considering. The pace for the entire run (including walking and warm-up/cooldown) was 12:33/mm.
It was good that we ended when we did, because about 30 minutes later we had a brief but significant rain/thunder storm blow through. We saw it approaching in the distance as we were headed back to our cars. Glad we were home before the storm hit!
So instead of 16 miles this week, I only logged 10. Oh well. But I think in the end, it was better to back off on running in order to get more sleep, given the crazy schedule I was on between work, the musical, church, and a fundraising event for my AVON Walk for Breast Cancer.
This weekend I am running the "Penguin in the Park" 5K race in Decatur IL with my son and my running partner Mike and his wife, Liz. It should be a fun race, with the added bonus of getting to visit with my daughter who lives there. I will try to get two maintenance runs in this week and hit the Jacuzzi on that Friday night.