First Week of July Updates

Runs:
- Tuesday 7/3: 5 on treadmill
- Thursday 7/5: 3 on treadmill
- Saturday 7/7: 10 on treadmill (this in and of itself deserves a prize!)
- Sunday 7/8: 5k race (see separate post)
Total Miles: 21.1.

We had a severe heat wave last week with temps in the 100s so I wasn't able to run any of my training runs outdoors.  That was somewhat disappointing, but somewhat of a blessing in disguise since I forced myself to run at a 10 minute mile pace (with a 1.0 incline) on the treadmill.  I even had to do my Saturday long run on the treadmill since the group long run was canceled due to the heat.

I saw my PT two times last week (Tuesdays and Fridays).  He has me do exercises to strengthen my leg muscles and stretches for my ITB.  We've been working on my balance issues as well.  Tuesday went over OK, but Friday kicked my ass.  Granted, I ran the day before, but it was tough.  My legs were shaking as I was stretching my ITB on the foam roller.  He stretches and massages my ITB and tapes it up at the end of every session, which is good.

The runs on Tuesday and Thursday went well.  I have yet to run 3 days in a row, but I figured that I would push the 5 miler to Tuesday, skip the three on Wednesday and move that to Sunday's race and just run 3 on Thursday.  I was able to get the miles in, which is what matters.

Saturday's treadmill run was mentally exhausting and I was wiped out for the rest of the day.  It was just so tough to stay mentally focused when all I wanted to do was get off it.  The treadmill at the gym only goes up to an hour so I was super tempted just to stop and use other machines when the hour elapsed.  However, I pushed myself to run the next 40 minutes on the treadmill.  I started to lose it after 7 and the wheels were falling off the bus in the last mile, but I made it through alright.  My upper thighs and glutes hurt so bad.  But, I think that's just because I worked them a lot on Friday at PT.

Oh, and I've stopped running in the minimalist shoes and gone back to my Brooks Adrenaline GTS 11s.  I haven't had any issues with them so far.  And, I'm tracking what I eat the night before long runs so I can avoid any tummy issues post run.  So far I haven't had any of those so all has been well on that front.

So, in conclusion - good week of running and pretty pain free.  Of course, the goal is to be able to run without tape on my knee and hopefully I will get there.

Up Next: Arlington Heights Frontier Days Stampede 5k Race Recap!