Good Week

So this has been a good week of running. For the first time I ran four times in the same week. Also I have run the most distance of any week I've run before.

I ran 3 miles on Monday, 3 miles on Tuesday (still getting used to running back to back days), 4 miles on Thursday, then somewhere between 5 and 6 miles today. We are in Hurricane for the weekend and I went running with my brother-in-law, Wade, today. I let him pick the route, and he picked some crazy off-road running up and down some cinder knolls located close to the house here. Jogged a bit up some really steep rocky terrain before walking. Most of the running today was on soft dirt paths, but we had to be careful to avoid twisting an ankle on all the rocks. It was a fun run overall with a good bit of walking; we didn't push it too hard.

Most importantly, I feel really good with where I am at with my shin splints. Like I mentioned on Monday, I have been trying out some new stretches and also trying to correct my stride when I run, trying to focus more on rolling the foot (landing on the back half of the foot and then rolling it forward consistently) rather than just slapping the ground with my feet. So far it appears to be working. I have not had any significant shin splints or tightness. I'm optimistic that this will be the solution to my problems.

When I first started the new and better technique, my ankle muscles were getting pretty sore and I had to stop and walk more than I care to. Also I have been running at a slower pace than I'm used to, just trying to focus solely on training my body to run with correct stride and technique. So far so good.

I think that I will try to run 5 times next week with normal distances and paces, to see how my body adjusts and reacts.