Hot Chocolate 15K Countdown: 3 Weeks

Only 3 weeks until my first race of 2018! This is going to be a “for fun” one (aren’t they all for fun?!) so I’m especially excited to meet up with friends and just have fun… and eat chocolate!

If you aren’t familiar with the Hot Chocolate 5K/15K series, they take place all across the US and are known for their awesome swag. Every runner gets a long sleeve quarter zip and the most DELICIOUS post-race goodies you could ask for. You get a big bowl of warm chocolate and dippers! Banana, pretzels, marshmallows… you know. The good stuff. You can still register for the Hot Chocolate 15K Dallas before the price increase on 1/21! Use code BRHCDAL18 for bonus swag!

Huge shout out to Lifelong Endurance for coaching me to the start line of all my races and helping me continue to grow as a runner.

I had a little setback this week but wanted to share how it went, so let’s dig in!

Monday

Plan: Cross-train (no run!) + functional strength

Ran: It’s good to switch it up sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE running, but I was excited to see that I had cross-training on the schedule today. I was eager to get up for a 5:30 am spin class (yes, I do question my sanity sometimes) and it felt great! I was, though, ready for a run tomorrow since this was my second no-run day in a row.

Tuesday

Plan: 6.2 miles – 2 miles easy, 20:00 progression (8:10-7:50), 2 miles easy

Ran: 6.5 miles/57:20/8:49 min/mile {splits: 9:30, 9:30, 7:53, 7:50, 8:40, 9:17}

This run felt pretty good! My right foot was sore afterwards, though. It felt OK during, but had me a little worried afterwards. It’s never fun wondering “what’s wrong” as a runner.

Wednesday

Plan: 4 miles easy

Ran: 4.03 miles/37:34/9:20 min/mile

This one felt just OK. I was tired. And stressed. I have an interview tomorrow and these types of things always stress me out. My foot actually felt OK, though, which was something to be relieved about!

Thursday

Plan: 3 miles easy + cross-train

Ran: 3.03 miles/27:32/9:06 min/mile + kickboxing!

I ran RIGHT before the cold front came in! It got extremely windy towards the end and I could’ve sworn I was running in the middle of a tornado. After my run it dropped about 20 degrees! So I had that nice feeling of “just in time!” The run itself felt AMAZING and easy – and no foot pain!!!

Friday

Plan: “Out and Back” – 6 miles – 2 miles easy, 4 miles @ 3:00 hard, 1:00 easy + functional strength

Ran: 6.00 miles/49:10/8:11 min/mile {splits: 9:06, 9:17, 7:43, 7:47, 7:39, 7:37}

This one felt really good! I was surprised at my speed during the “hard” paces considering my general lack of motivation today. I think I was mentally drained from work, my interview, and just life. It happens. So, this run was a nice confidence booster. I felt great afterwards, except for my FOOT! It felt OK throughout the run, but I could just start to feel it towards the end and it felt sore afterwards. Hopefully a good night’s sleep does it some good!

Saturday

Plan: Long run – 12 miles easy

Ran: 6.01 miles/55:47/9:17 min/mile

So, as you can see, this one didn’t go as planned. I woke up at my usual 5:30 am, drank my coffee, got all bundled up and met my group for our Saturday long run. A few miles in, I felt my foot yelling at me a bit. Around mile 4, I knew that a 12-miler was not happening. I needed to cut my route short. I was bummed out watching my buddies run off in the distance as I turned around and went the short route back to my car. I made it 6 miles. I knew that pushing it any further was doing more harm than good. So home to rest, I went.

Sunday

Rest! Since cutting my run short yesterday and with the entire day of rest today, I’m in hopes that my foot will feel better. I explained all my symptoms to my coach, and we suspect it’s Turf Toe. Has anyone ever dealt with this?

So, despite a (hopefully minor) setback, I still had a solid week’s training and am excited to run for Chocolate on February 3rd! Let me know if you will be there!

How do you determine if something is an “injury?” vs. normal soreness? 

Have you ever had a major injury that set you back? How did you cope?